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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


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SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 


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THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO 
DALLAS   •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  ■  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


SOCIALISTS 
AT    WORK 


BY 
ROBERT   HUNTER 

AUTHOR   OF   "^POVERTY,"   ETC. 


»      O         i     ^ 


Ifit^  gorfe 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1912 

^11  righti  reserved 


Copyright,  1908, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  April,  1908.     Reprinted 
October,  1908  ;  October,  twice,  1910  ;  February,  1912. 


NotSuoolJ  ilrcsB 

J.  8.  Cuahinff  Co.  —  )!ci\viok  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

"  Labor  is  ever  an  imprisoned  god,  writhing  unconsciously  or  con- 
sciously to  escape  out  of  Mammonism."  —  Carlyle. 

Almost  unknown  to  the  world  outside  of  Labor  a 
-i       movement  wide  as  the  universe  grows   and  prospers. 
^"^     Its   vitality  is  incredible,  and  its   humanitarian    ideals 
come  to  those  who  labor  as  drink  to  parched  throats. 
Its  creed  and    program    call   forth  a  passionate   adhe- 
rence, its  converts  serve  it  with  a  daily  devotion  that 
knows  no  limit  of  sacrifice,  and  in  the  face  of  persecu- 
V      tion,    misrepresentation,    and    even    martyrdom,    they 
J'     remain  loyal  and  true.      In  Russia  its  missionaries  are 
■^     exiled,  imprisoned,  and  massacred,  but  the  progress  of 
the  movement  is  only  quickened  by  persecution,  prov- 
ing once  again  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed 
of   the    Church.      In    Germany  and  elsewhere   it   was 
forced  into  the  night,  its  leaders  were  impoverished  and 
hunted  through   Europe;    but  underground  the  move- 
ment   grew    faster    than    ever.       In    England    it    was 
ignored,  defeated  it  was  thought  by  a   conspiracy  of 
silence,  when  suddenlv   the  nation  awoke  to  the  fact 
that  the  whole  underworld  vvas  aflame ;  and  now  lords, 
politicians,  and  newspapers,  consternated  and  appalled, 
are  rallying  for  a  frontal  attack.      From  Russia,  across 

onwnoQ 


VI  PREFACE 

Europe  and  America  to  Japan,  from  Canada  to  Argen- 
tina, and  from  Norway  and  Finland  to  South  Africa 
and  Australia,  it  crosses  frontiers,  breaking  through  the 
barriers  of  language,  nationahty,  and  rehgion,  as  it 
spreads  from  factory  to  factory,  from  mill  to  mill,  and 
from  mine  to  mine,  touching  as  it  goes  with  the  religion 
of  life  the  miUions  of  the  underworld. 

Its  converts  work  in  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet  in 
the  industrial  nations,  spreading  the  new  gospel  among 
the  poor  and  lowly,  who  Hsten  to  their  words  with 
religious  intensity.  Tired  workmen  pore  over  the  lit- 
erature which  these  missionaries  leave  behind  them, 
and  fall  to  sleep  over  open  pages ;  and  the  youth,  in- 
spired by  its  lofty  ideals  and  elevated  thought,  leave 
the  factory  with  joyous  anticipation  to  read  through  the 
night.  Its  influence  reaches  throughout  all  society, 
and  here  and  there  those  of  the  faith  are  at  work  in 
science,  literature,  and  art,  in  churches  and  colleges. 
Millions  are  already  embraced  in  its  organization,  and 
other  milHons  begin  to  awaken.  It  has  already  cap- 
tured some  of  the  outposts  of  political  power,  and  it 
moves  on  to  higher  centres  of  influence,  and  even  now 
begins  to  alter  the  national  pohcy  of  every  European 
government.  Its  horizon  is  boundless,  and  it  quietly 
works  to  group  its  national  organizations  into  an  inter- 
national brotherhood  that  will  abolish  war  and  make  as 
of  one  blood  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Strive  as  I  may,  I  cannot  convey  to  the  idle  and 
privileged   the  full  revolutionary  portent  of   this  new 


PREFACE  vii 

movement ;  and  strive  as  I  may,  I  cannot  adequately 
convey  to  the  weary  and  heavy-laden  the  grandeur  of 
its  thought  and  the  noble  promise  of  its  message.  I 
attempt  neither.  Beyond  a  brief  chapter  upon  its 
program,  I  have  not  discussed  fundamental  principles. 
Others  have  done  that  far  better  than  I  could  hope 
to  do.  But  I  shall  have  failed  in  my  purpose  if  I  have 
not  brought  my  reader  fnto  intimate  contact  with  the 
men,  the  organizations,  and  the  work  of  this  powerful 
and  significant  movement.  I  endeavor  to  picture  a 
growing  organism  that  already  has  its  ramifications 
throughout  society  in  every  civilized  country ;  and  even 
this  is  but  inadequately  done,  as  the  movement  has 
grown  with  such  rapidity,  and  has  developed  so  differ- 
ently in  the  various  countries  that  the  task  is  too  great 
for  one  wishing  to  keep  to  the  limits  of  a  sizable  volume. 
One  will  learn  here,  nevertheless,  something  of  its 
leaders,  its  methods  of  organization,  its  congresses  and 
propaganda,  and  its  present  influence  in  the  foremost 
countries  of  Europe.  It  should  interest  those  who  are 
curious  about  current  movements ;  it  should  prove  a 
warning,  if  one  is  needed,  to  those  who  live  by  privilege 
and  by  exploiting  their  fellow-men  ;  and  above  all,  it 
should  help  to  disillusion  those  who  think  that  socialism 
is  some  supermundane  philosophy  that  has  no  contact 
with  life,  and  no  especial  significance  in  the  world  of 
to-day. 

Every  new    movement    has  its   shibboleths,  and  the 
socialist  movement  is  no  exception.     I  have  endeavored 


Viii  PREFACE 

as  far  as  possible  to  avoid  their  use,  but  the  reader  will 
find  the  terms  "class,"  "working-class,"  and  "class 
struggle  "  used  very  frequently  in  the  following  pages. 
These  terms  ought  perhaps  to  be  defined  in  this  place. 
The  socialists  interpret  "working-class"  very  broadly. 
.Karl  Marx,  in  1850,  condemned  the  extremists  in  the 
Communist  Alliance  for  making  a  fetich  of  the  word 
"proletariat."  And  while  ro  socialist  would  go  so 
far  as  Frederic  Harrison,  who  says,  "  The  working- 
class  is  the  only  class  which  is  not  a  class ;  it  is  the 
nation"  ;  Wilhelm  Liebknecht  declared  that,  "  We 
include  in  the  working-class  all  those  who  live  exclu- 
sively or  principally  by  means  of  their  own  labor,  and 
who  do  not  grow  rich  through  the  work  of  others.  .  .  . 
It  is  the  party  of  all  the  people,  with  the  exception  of 
two  hundred  thousand  great  proprietors.  .  .  ." 

There  is  much  misunderstanding  about  the  use  of 
the  term  "class  struggle."  Socialists  do  not  advocate 
the  class  struggle.  They  recognize  that  it  is  inevitable 
under  the  present  system,  and  they  strive  to  abolish  it. 
The  first  International  began  its  preamble  by  saying, 
"The  struggle  for  the  emancipation  of  the  working- 
classes  means  not  a  struggle  for  class  privileges  and 
monopolies,  but  for  equal  rights  and  duties,  and  the 
abolition  of  all  class  rule."  "The  domination  of  one 
class,"  says  Jean  Jaures,  "  is  an  attempt  to  degrade 
humanity.  Socialism,  which  will  abolish  all  primacy 
of  class,  and  indeed  all  class,  elevates  humanity  to  its 
highest  level."      Liebknecht  says,  "  Social  democracy, 


PREFACE  ix 

while  it  fights  the  class  state,  will,  by  abolishing  the 
present  form  of  production,  abolish  the  class  war  itself." 
As  nearly  as  possible  in  the  descriptive  portions  of 
the  book,  I  have  kept  to  the  limit  of  my  own  observa- 
tions in  Germany,  Italy,  France,  England,  and  Belgium. 
Realizing,  however,  that  my  readers  may  wish  to  know 
something  of  the  movement  in  other  countries,  I  have 
asked  my  friend  and  secretary,  Mr.  Charles  Lapworth, 
to  prepare  a  supplementary  chapter.  I  am  happy  to 
take  this  opportunity  not  only  to  acknowledge  this  con- 
tribution to  the  volume,  but  also  to  thank  Mr.  Lapworth 
for  his  continuous  assistance  and  helpful  criticism  dur- 
ing the  course  of  our  work.  Grateful  acknowledgment 
is  also  due  to  Mr.  Morris  Hillquit,  Mr.  J.  G.  Phelps 
Stokes,  and  Miss  Helen  Phelps  Stokes,  for  having  read 
the  manuscript  and  offered  many  valuable  suggestions. 
Special  gratitude  is  due  to  my  wife,  who  has  worked 
over  the  manuscript  and  proofs  with  infinite  care  and 
devotion. 

Highland  Farm, 
NoRoroN  Heights, 
Connecticut, 

January  31,  1908. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I. 

The  German  Social  Democracy  .        .        .        . 

II. 

The  Italian  Socialist  Party        .        .        .        . 

III. 

The  French  Socialist  Party        .        .        .        . 

IV. 

The  British  Labor  Party 

V. 

The  Belgian  Labor  Party 

VI. 

The  Program  of  Socialism 

VII. 

Socialism  and  Social  Reform       .        .        .        . 

VIII. 

Socialism  in  the  Parliaments       .        .        .        . 

IX. 

Socialism  in  Art  and  Literature 

X. 

The  International 

The  MovExMent  in  Other  Countries    . 
(Supplementary  Chapter.) 

A  Few  Authorities 

Index 

PAGB 
V 


I 

31 
56 

88 

128 

153 

178 

210 
259 

294 
327 

364 
369 


XI 


SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

CHAPTER   I 

THE    GERMAN    SOCIAL    DEMOCRACY 

It  is  rather  startling  to  one  whose  observation  of  so- 
ciaHst  movements  has  been  confined  almost  entirely  to 
the  United  States,  to  enter  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
beautiful  halls  in  the  world,  —  a  hall  seating  10,000  per- 
sons —  and  find  it  packed  to  the  point  of  suffocation  with 
delegates,  members,  and  friends  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Party  of  Germany.  I  speak  of  entering  ;  as  a  matter  of 
fact  it  took  me  two  hours  to  enter.  Relying  upon  my 
experience  at  home  to  guide  me,  I  went  half  an  hour 
late.  When  I  came  near  the  hall,  I  saw  a  huge  throng 
of  people,  surely  not  less  than  three  or  four  thousand, 
standing  before  the  doors.  I  congratulated  myself  upon 
not  being  later,  and  hurriedly  elbowed  my  way  through 
the  crowd  in  order  to  be  as  near  the  entrance  as  possible 
when  the  doors  should  be  opened.  But  before  I  had 
gone  far  I  discovered  that  the  hall  was  already  over- 
crowded, and  that  we  were  shut  out.  None  of  us  were 
in  a  mind  for  that,  and  in  the  crush  a  few  window-panes 
were  broken,  but  it  was  of  no  avail ;  we  were  informed 
that  the  hall  would  support  no  more,  and  the  police  were 
unyielding. 

It  was  an  impressive  sight.  They  were  working  men 
—  to  a  man.  And  they  were  of  that  type  of  working 
man  one   too  rarely  sees  outside  of   Germany.     They 


2  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

were  not  pale,  anaemic,  and  undersized,  such  as  one  sees 
in  the  East  End  of  London,  or  in  the  factory  districts  of 
Lancashire  ;  nor  were  they  the  tense,  exhausted  work- 
men that  issue  from  the  factories  of  the  United  States. 
It  seemed  as  if  they  had  escaped  somehow  the  perfected 
system  of  labor-exploitation  which  exists  with  us.  They 
looked  as  if  they  were  getting  a  loaf  or  two  of  bread 
the  better  of  the  struggle  with  capitalism.  They  were 
serious-minded,  ruddy-faced,  muscular ;  one  could  see 
that  they  had  saved  from  the  exploitation  of  the  factory 
enough  physical  and  mental  strength  to  live  like  men 
during  their  leisure  hours  ;  and  my  belief  is  that  physi- 
cally and  mentally  they  can  hold  their  own  in  the  essen- 
tials with  any  other  class  in  Germany.  These  were  my 
observations  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  mass  outside. 
After  a  time  most  of  those  outside  went  away,  and 
when  somewhat  later  a  few  of  those  inside  came  out,  I 
slipped  in. 

Inside  other  things  impressed  me.  I  was  squeezed 
so  tight  among  those  immediately  about  me  that  I 
could  not  see  them,  and  I  contented  myself  with  look- 
ing across  a  sea  of  faces  such  as  I  have  rarely  seen 
massed  in  one  place.  Clear  and  resonant  ov^er  this  sea 
came  the  voice  of  Bebel.  A  few  months  ago  I  saw  in 
New  York  a  convention  of  American  citizens  standins: 
on  chairs,  and  for  twenty  minutes  waving  their  hats  and 
arms,  quite  as  if  they  had  lost  their  senses,  in  order  to 
show  their  appreciation  of  a  candidate  for  office.  They 
were  malcontents,  they  were  in  fear  lest  their  liberties 
should  be  lost  them,  and  they  wanted  a  Moses  to  save 
them  ;  this,  they  thought,  was  he.  Here  in  Mannheim  I 
see  an  old  man  talking  to  his  sons.  He  has  watched 
the  movement  grow  up  from  its  childhood.     For  nearly 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  3 

half  a  century  he  has  served  it  with  faithfulness  and 
power.  He  has  worked  his  entire  life  for  this  thing ; 
yes,  more,  he  has  overworked ;  and  not  seldom  has 
he  been  vexed,  wearied,  and  out  of  heart.  In  this 
service  he  has  grown  gray,  and  furrowed,  and  great. 
To-day  he  is  the  ablest  man  in  the  Reichstag,  and  one 
of  the  most  powerful  debaters  in  the  world.  Every  man 
in  this  hall  knows  his  worth,  knows  his  greatness,  and 
-loves  him  ;  but  instead  of  grovel  and  hysteria  they  give 
him  the  good  round  of  applause  of  fellowship  and 
affection.  It  lasts  perhaps  fifty  seconds,  and  then  they 
stop  to  listen  to  what  lie  has  to  say.  If  what  he  says 
were  nonsense,  I  think  they  would  let  him  know,  for 
they  have  not  intoxicated  themselves  with  a  frenzied 
and  worked-up  emotion.  It  was  admirable.  Without 
hysteria,  without  the  worshipping  of  heroes,  or  the  seek- 
ing of  a  Moses  to  lead  them  out  of  the  wilderness,  this 
German  proletariat  is  coming  to  its  own.  They  know 
their  wilderness,  and  they  are  sure  of  their  own  capacity 
to  hew  paths  and  bridge  streams,  making  a  way  out 
of  the  miasma  of  forest  and  swamp  into  the  warmth  and 
sunshine  of  the  New  Time. 

Such  was  the  first  general  gathering,  the  night  before 
the  regular  opening  of  the  congress  of  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party  of  Germany.  The  next  morning  at  eight 
o'clock  sharp  the  delegates  assembled  for  their  regular 
work.  The  entire  floor  of  a  large  theatre  was  occupied 
by  the  delegates  from  385  electoral  districts  of  Germany, 
and  by  about  80  members  of  the  Reichstag.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  press  to  the  number  of  a  hundred  sat 
about  the  tribune,  and  the  galleries  were  crowded  with 
visitors.  Fraternal  delegates  from  other  countries  occu- 
pied seats  upon  the  platform. 


4  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

It  would  convey  to  the  reader  only  a  fragmentary 
idea  of  the  German  movement  to  treat  in  detail  the 
work  of  the  congress ;  for  unlike  our  American  parties,* 
the  Social  Democrats  are  not  mere  opportunists.  The 
leading  political  issue  of  the  moment  is  not  the  main 
topic  of  comment,  nor  is  the  congress  merely  a  nominat- 
ing body  absorbed  in  selecting  winning  candidates  and 
devising  vote-catching  platforms.  The  conventions  are 
annual  assemblies  for  discussing  questions  of  organiza- 
tion, the  reports  of  the  commissions  and  officers,  and  for 
revising,  after  thorough  discussion,  the  tactics  of  the 
party,  and  perhaps  an  article  of  its  program.  This  is 
all  made  necessary  because  the  Social  Democratic  Party, 
again  unlike  our  parties,  has  a  definite  membership,  num- 
bering at  the  present  time  530,000  out  of  the  3,250,000 
persons  who  at  the  last  election  voted  its  ticket.  This 
membership  is  the  sovereign  body ;  it  pays  dues  to  sup- 
port the  organization,  together  with  its  offices,  schools, 
magazines,  and  papers.  No  one  can  become  a  member 
of  the  party  who  does  not  subscribe  to  its  program  and 
obey  its  rules  of  political  activity.  In  each  locality  the 
members  constitute  a  branch.  These  branches  admin- 
ister the  electoral  work,  carry  on  the  propaganda,  and 
discuss,  weekly  or  monthly,  current  political  questions. 
Each  year  the  branches  select  their  delegates  to  the 
congress,  which  is  therefore  merely  the  representative 
body  of  the  whole  party. 

The  German  party  is  the  oldest  and  largest  socialist 
organization  in  Europe.  It  represents  the  thought  of  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  working  men  of  the  entire 
nation.    There  are  more  socialists  in  Germany  than  there 

*0f  course  in  this  and  similar  statements  I  do  not  include  the  Socialist 
Party  of  America. 


THE  GERMAN  SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY  5 

are  people  in  Spain,  or  Mexico,  or  in  Belgium,  Holland, 
Denmark,  and  Norway  put  together.  Its  present  vote 
would  have  elected  the  President  of  the  United  States 
up  till  the  time  of  Grant's  second  term.  It  polls  a  mill- 
ion more  votes  than  any  other  party  in  Germany.  By 
reason  of  an  antiquated  distribution  of  seats  the  socialists 
elect  to  the  Reichstag  only  43  members  instead  of  115, 
which  they  should  have  by  right  of  their  numbers;  and 
by  reason  of  unequal  suffrage,  instead  of  controlling 
nearly  every  large  city  in  the  German  empire,  they  elect 
only  about  a  third  of  the  members  of  the  Town  Councils. 

The  party  carries  on  a  propaganda  of  incredible 
dimensions.  Its  journals  reach  no  less  than  1,049,707 
subscribers.  There  are  65  daily  papers,  and  about  12 
weekly  and  monthly  journals.  A  comic  paper,  "  Der 
Wahre  Jacob,"  alone  has  a  circulation  of  230,000,  and 
"  Die  Gleichheit,"  a  journal  for  working  women,  has 
over  60,000  regular  subscribers.  Its  organ  in  Berlin, 
"Vorwarts,"  has  a  circulation  of  120,000.  The  party 
employs  28  organizing  secretaries,  who  go  about  the 
country  assisting  the  branches  in  the  work  of  organiza- 
tion and  propaganda.  In  September,  1906,  the  national 
committee  on  education  opened  a  school  in  Berlin  for 
the  purpose  of  training  working  men  as  organizers, 
secretaries,  and  editors.  About  30  students  are  sent 
there  entirely  at  the  expense  of  the  party. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  German  socialist  movement  is 
a  democratically  controlled  organization  of  a  character 
unknown  in  American  politics.  Indeed,  it  is  more 
like  one  of  our  scientific  or  professional  societies,  drawn 
together  by  a  definite  purpose,  and  managing  its  affairs 
locally  and  nationally  with  some  definite  end  in  view. 
As  a  basis  of  its  organization  there  has  been  from  its 


6  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

inception  a  program  including  a  brief  statement  of  its 
final  aims  and  immediate  demands.  Its  socialist  prin- 
ciples are  clear  and  precise,  involving  fundamental  eco- 
nomic changes,  and  its  program  of  social  and  political 
reform  includes  demands  for  universal  and  direct  suf- 
frage, direct  legislation,  the  substitution  of  a  militia  for 
a  standing  army,  international  arbitration,  free  speech 
and  assembly,  compulsory  education,  free  legal  and 
medical  assistance,  the  abolition  of  capital  punishment, 
a  graduated  income  and  property  tax,  the  protection  of 
working  men  and  women,  prohibition  of  child  labor, 
governmental  insurance  and  the  eight-hour  day.  Sup- 
plementary to  this  general  program,  the  annual  national 
congress  expresses  by  resolution  its  opinion  upon  cur- 
rent political  and  social  problems. 

Naturally  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  movement 
attend  these  annual  gatherings.  Now  that  Wilhelm  Lieb- 
knecht  is  dead,  the  first  man  is,  of  course,  August  Bebel. 
He  is  nearing  his  seventieth  year,  and,  although  gray, 
he  has  in  the  tribune  the  appearance  of  a  man  of  great 
physical  strength.  His  rapidity  and  spontaneity  of  ac- 
tion seem  to  denote  youthful  health  and  vigor ;  but 
when  I  spent  a  Sunday  with  him  afterward,  quietly 
walking  in  the  woods,  I  saw  that  he  was  small,  narrow 
of  shoulder,  and  delicate.  For  nearly  fifty  years  he  has 
been  a  leader  of  German  working  men's  movements, 
and  for  forty  years  he  has  had  a  seat  in  the  Reichstag. 
Mrs.  Wilhelm  Liebknecht  once  told  me  of  her  first 
meeting  with  the  two  men  who  built  up  the  socialist 
movement  in  Germany.  In  the  sixties  she  was  taking 
English  lessons  of  the  sister  of  the  philosopher  Biich- 
ner,  and  was  invited  one  afternoon  to  go  for  a  walk 
with  a  small    party  of   their  guests,  consisting  among 


THE  GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  7 

others  of  "two  interesting  young  men."  One  of  them 
was  sitting  in  the  garden.  He  was  pale  and  thin,  with 
long  hair  falling  about  his  shoulders,  a  serious  face, 
brown  eyes,  and  a  languishing,  love-sick  air.  She  said 
she  first  thought  him  a  sentimental  poet.  It  was  August 
Bebel,  then  a  master  turner,  in  wretched  health  and 
threatened  with  tuberculosis.  Despite  poverty  and  ill- 
ness he  was  at  the  time  carrying  on  an  extraordinary 
agitation,  and  although  a  youth,  was  already  the  leader 
of  one  of  the  largest  working  men's  movements  in  Ger- 
many. When  the  party  reached  the  top  of  the  hill,  Mrs. 
Liebknecht  met  her  future  husband ;  a  tall,  interesting- 
looking  man  with  strongly  intellectual  tastes.  They 
began  to  talk  of  Kant,  Hegel,  and  the  other  great  Ger- 
man philosophers  ;  and  directly  fell  to  quarreUing,  as  he 
attacked  them  and  their  "  nonsense  "  with  great  vehe- 
mence, while  she  defended  them  as  well  as  she  could. 
This  was  about  the  time  that  Liebknecht,  the  disciple 
and  representative  of  Marx  in  Germany,  was  converting 
young  Bebel  to  socialism.  It  was  fortunate  for  Bebel 
that  shortly  afterward  he  was  imprisoned  for  dissemi- 
nating "  doctrines  dangerous  to  the  state,"  as  in  prison 
rest  and  food  restored  him  to  health. 

There  is  also,  at  the  congress,  Paul  Singer,  that  ex- 
traordinary organizer,  who  has  done  so  much  to  perfect 
the  machinery  of  the  movement.  Singer  was  a  rich 
and  successful  business  man,  who  after  his  conversion  to 
socialism  devoted  all  his  power  and  genius  for  business- 
like organization  to  the  party's  affairs.  Liebknecht  and 
Bebel  were  agitators  and  poHticians;  Singer,  the  quiet 
and  effective  administrator  building  up  and  strength- 
ening the  organized  forces  behind  them.  A  good  part 
of  his  large  fortune  has  been  devoted  to  invigorating 


8  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

the  party  journals  and  organs  of  propaganda.  Besides 
Singer  there  are  other  prominent  party  leaders,  includ- 
ing Auer,  another  extraordinary  organizer ;  Kautsky, 
the  scholar  of  the  movement,  and  Legien,  the  head  of 
the  trade  union  forces. 

Two  days  of  the  congress  were  given  to  the  debate 
upon  the  general  strike,  or  what  the  Germans  signifi- 
cantly call  the  PolitiscJien  Massenstreik.  Within  recent 
years  the  idea  of  the  general  strike  has  gained  many 
adherents  in  the  European  movement.  In  France  and 
Italy,  where  the  revolutionary  tradition  is  strong,  and 
broad  generalization  seductive,  the  idea  of  such  an  up- 
rising of  the  workers  has  taken  firm  hold  on  the  imagi- 
nation. In  Germany  and  England  it  has  few  advocates. 
In  Belgium  it  has  been  twice  employed  to  force  political 
reforms,  once  with  signal  success.  The  immense  revolu- 
tionary power  resting  in  its  natural  and  proper  use  was 
shown  once  in  Russia.  In  Germany  there  has  recently 
arisen  a  demand  on  the  part  of  the  more  extreme  sections 
of  the  party,  the  hotter  heads,  and  especially  the  anarcho- 
socialists,  for  its  adoption  as  an  ordinary  weapon  of  the 
working  class  against  the  tyrannies  of  the  government. 
At  the  congress  of  the  trade  unions  at  Cologne  in  1905, 
a  resolution  advocating  the  use  of  the  general  strike  v/as 
rejected.  But  a  few  months  later  the  socialist  congress 
at  Jena  expressed  recognition  of  its  value  and  advocated 
its  use.  Bebel  himself  spoke  in  its  favor.  Later,  how- 
ever, when  the  party  was  considering  plans  for  an  im- 
mense propaganda  to  gain  universal  suffrage  in  the 
elections  for  the  Prussian  Landtag,  and  to  retort  to  the 
assaults  directed  against  universal  suffrage  in  certain 
other  German  states,  and  the  general  strike  was  proposed 
as  a  means  to  that  end,  Bebel  declared  that  the  moment 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  9 

had  not  come  for  such  extreme  measures  and  that  he 
would  oppose  all  propaganda  looking  to  immediate  action 
of  that  character.  This  series  of  events  created  through- 
out the  party  a  lively  discussion,  and  to  clear  up  the 
matter  the  subject  of  the  general  strike  was  put  upon 
the  program  for  discussion  at  this  congress. 

Bebel,  in  summing  up  its  recent  history,  maintained 
that  the  general  strike  cannot  be  organized  artificially. 
"  It  is  possible,"  he  said,  "  only  when  the  masses  are  in 
a  high  ferment.  In  Russia  the  use  of  the  general  strike 
has  broken  down.  Such  successful  strikes  as  there  have 
been  of  this  character  were  not  artificially  organized  by 
the  working  men's  associations.  They  were  provoked 
by  events.  In  August,  1906,  the  workers  refused  to 
participate  in  the  strike  because  they  considered  it  inop- 
portune." Bebel's  opposition  to  the  use  of  the  general 
strike,  except  under  extraordinary  conditions  and  with 
the  accompaniment  of  a  revolutionary  state  of  mind  on 
the  part  of  the  masses,  called  forth  a  heated  discussion. 
Young  Liebknecht  and  Rosa  Luxemburg  attacked 
Bebel's  position  with  considerable  warmth,  but  at  the 
close  of  the  debate  Bebel  was  supported  by  a  large 
vote. 

The  resolution  upon  which  this  debate  took  place, 
while  reaffirming  the  declaration  of  the  congress  of  Jena, 
recommended  with  particular  insistence  consideration  of 
the  resolutions  which  favored  the  reenforcement  and 
development  of  the  party  organization,  and  the  reciprocal 
affiliation  of  the  members  of  the  trade  unions  to  the 
political  groups.  It  also  declared  that  as  soon  as  the 
national  committee  of  the  party  recognized  the  necessity 
for  a  general  strike,  it  must  put  itself  in  relation  with  the 
national  committee  of  the  trade  unions  in  order  to  take 


10  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

all  the  measures  necessary   to  assure  to  the  action  a 
fruitful  result. 

In  one  paragraph  of  the  resolution  it  was  declared 
that  trade  unions  were  indispensable  to  the  bettering  of 
the  conditions  of  the  workers  under  the  present  state  of 
society,  but  that  having  a  class  conscience,  the  unionists 
should  equally  pursue  the  aims  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Party  in  seeking  to  deliver  the  working-class  from  the 
present  wage-system.  Kautsky  created  an  important 
discussion  by  proposing  as  an  amendment  that  the 
trade  unions  should  be  dominated  by  the  spirit,  and 
bound  by  the  decisions,  of  the  party.  This  brought 
up  one  of  the  most  burning  questions  of  socialist  poli- 
tics ;  namely,  whether  or  not  the  unions  should  have  an 
independent  existence.  In  France  the  trade  unionists 
have  assumed  an  attitude  of  neutrality  ;  in  America  they 
forbid  all  politics  in  the  unions ;  in  Belgium  they  are  a 
part  of  the  political  organization ;  and  in  England 
they  are  a  political  organization.  It  is  an  old  and 
much-debated  question  of  tactics.  Kautsky  is  an  un- 
compromising believer  in  the  unions  being  dominated 
by  socialist  political  policies.  But  he  and  his  supporters 
were  defeated,  and  the  revised  amendment  which  follows 
was  put  and  carried  by  a  large  majority  :  — 

"  To  assure  the  unity  of  thought  and  of  action  of  the 
party  and  of  the  unions,  which  is  supremely  necessary 
to  the  victorious  march  of  the  proletarian  class  struggle, 
it  is  indispensable  that  the  unions  should  be  permeated 
by  the  spirit  of  social  democracy.  It  is  the  duty  of  all 
members  of  the  party  to  work  toward  this  end." 

The  thing  that  impressed  me  most  at  the  German 
congress  was  its  distinct  proletarian  character,  and  the 
extraordinary  intelligence  and    ability  of    the    working 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  II 

men  in  attendance.  I  spoke  of  this  to  Ledebour,  one 
of  the  most  effective  and  pleasing  orators  of  the  party, 
and  a  member  of  the  Reichstag  from  Liebknecht's  old 
constituency  in  Berlin.  He  remarked  that  it  had  be- 
come noticeably  more  so  in  recent  years.  The  opposi- 
tion to  the  party  on  the  part  of  middle-class  parents, 
and  the  prejudice  inculcated  by  instructors  in  the 
schools  and  universities,  had  kept  the  younger  men  of 
better  education  out  of  the  movement.  For  this  reason 
it  became  necessary  for  the  socialists  to  have  a  school  of 
their  own  to  train  the  youth  of  the  working-class  as 
editors  and  secretaries. 

As  the  proletarian  character  of  the  movement  struck 
me,  so  did  the  independent,  able,  and  frank  discussion 
on  all  the  important  matters.  The  officials,  the  editors, 
and  the  representatives  in  the  Reichstag  were  called  to 
account  for  every  act  that  could  justly  be  questioned  or 
was  of  a  controversial  nature.  The  German  rank  and 
file  are  not  being  blindly  led  anywhere ;  and  while 
Bebel's  power  is  immense,  it  results  —  aside  from  his 
exceptional  abihty  —  from  the  scrupulous  care  with 
which  he  always  presents  his  side  of  any  case.  To 
those  who  hear  him  there  can  be  no  mistaking  of  his 
position.  His  sincerity,  and  the  way  an  idea  dominates 
his  mind,  so  that  he  can  present  it  to  his  audience  from 
every  conceivable  point  of  view,  enables  him  to  carry 
his  party  with  him.  Thorough,  painstaking  thinking, 
clear  and  forceful  repetition  of  his  thought  with  exhaust- 
ive care  to  make  his  position  clear  to  the  most  obstinate 
opponent  or  the  most  stupid  auditor,  are  to  my  mind 
the  secret  of  this  extraordinary  man's  success.  It  is  a 
power  which  Lincoln  had,  only  Lincoln  had  it  in  an 
even  more  gifted  way.     He  was  usually  able  to  make 


12  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

his  position  clear  in  a  few  words.  Bebel  attains  the 
same  end,  but,  at  times,  only  by  the  most  laborious 
means. 

It  struck  me  also  that  the  party  was  to  all  outward 
appearances  conservative.  It  is  conscious  of  its  enor- 
mous power  and  feels  deeply  its  responsibility.  I  do 
not  mean  that  it  is  cowardly,  that  it  does  not  take  the 
most  advanced  ground  in  its  political  program,  or  that 
it  dilutes  in  any  way  the  revolutionary  aim  of  the  move- 
ment. What  I  mean  is  that  it  is  not  uselessly  offending 
any  one.  Inside  the  party  the  leaders  are  extremely 
careful  not  to  offend  the  more  backward  and  slow-mov- 
ing elements,  which  are  perhaps  as  numerous  in  the 
German  movement  as  elsewhere.  The  more  advanced 
are  willing  to  sacrifice  positions  which  they  would  other- 
wise take  or  hold  in  order  to  retain  the  adhesion  of  the 
less  revolutionary  members.  They  scrupulously  avoid 
giving  offence  to  the  trade  unions,  and  give  them  all  as- 
sistance and  consideration  in  their  method  of  advancing 
the  proletarian  cause.*  I  suspect  a  majority  of  the  con- 
gress were  in  favor  of  Kautsky's  resolution,  only  they 
were  unwilling  to  press  it  against  the  wishes  of  the  trade 
unionists. 

Outside  the  party  they  are  quite  as  careful  not  to  give 
the  reactionary  elements  in  the  empire  any  unnecessary 

*  The  party  maintains  the  closest  possible  relation  with  the  trade  union 
movement,  which  is  now  the  strongest  in  the  world,  numbering  in  all  its 
branches  2,300,000  members.  At  the  end  of  1906  the  trade  unions  con- 
nected with  the  great  central  organization  numbered  1,799,293  members, 
or  an  increase  of  369,000  over  the  preceding  year.  The  women  in  the 
movement  numbered  132,821,  as  against  89,500  in  the  previous  year.  The 
total  receipts  amounted  to  over  $10,500,000,  and  the  expenses  to  $8,000,000. 
Strikes  and  lockouts  cost  about  $4,750,000;  while  sickness  and  out-of- 
work  pay  only  absorbed  $1,750,000. 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  1 3 

excuse  for  their  attacks.  For  instance,  it  is  unquestion- 
able that  Bebel,  aside  from  what  seems  to  me  his  sound 
theory  of  the  milieu  which  must  exist  as  a  soil  for  the 
proper  incitement  and  development  of  the  successful 
Massenstreik,  is  influenced  by  his  fear  of  the  power  of 
the  reaction  if  it  should  be  too  much  harassed.  For 
instance,  in  his  speech  on  the  general  strike,  he  said : 
"My  opinion  at  bottom  has  never  varied.  I  have  always 
said  that  the  general  strike  cannot  be  organized  in 
Prussia  as  in  other  countries.  We  are  in  the  presence 
of  a  violent  reaction,  malicious  and  brutal,  against  which 
we  cannot  launch  an  organization  such  as  so  important 
a  struggle  demands.  To  attempt  such  an  adventure 
without  being  prepared  is  to  furnish  to  the  reactionaries, 
to  the  agents  provocateurs,  the  very  occasion  they 
desire  to  reduce  still  further  that  which  remains  of  our 
liberties." 

That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  a  pretty  conservative  stand 
for  the  leader  of  the  greatest  political  party  in  Germany 
to  take.  But  Bebel  unquestionably  relies  upon  parlia- 
mentary methods  and  strength  for  the  attainment  of 
socialist  ends.  The  working  men  must  still  further 
unite,  must  still  further  become  conscious  of  the  historic 
role  they  are  to  play  before  they  will  be  able,  in  the 
words  of  Karl  Marx,  to  throw  off  their  chains.  Until 
both  of  these  objects  of  the  party  are  attained  it  might 
lose  much  that  it  has  already  gained  if  it  were  to  attempt 
to  move  by  revolutionary  methods.  This  attitude  is  con- 
ciliatory and,  in  a  sense,  conservative.  Is  it  not  also  far- 
seeing  and  wise .'' 

When  we  left  Mannheim,  no  one  thought  that  within 
a  few  months  the  German  empire  would  be  in  the  throes 
of  an  election.     The  general  opinion  was  that  the  gov- 


14  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ernment  would  not  soon  again  give  the  socialists  an 
opportunity  to  prove  their  strength.  Flushed  with  suc- 
cess, and  enjoying  an  electoral  history  of  remarkable 
achievement,  the  socialists  were  perhaps  over-confident 
of  their  growing  influence  and  power.  With  an  organi- 
zation little  short  of  perfection,  with  an  electoral  strength 
nearly  double  that  of  any  other  party,  with  local  elec- 
tions going  everywhere  in  their  favor,  it  were  unrea- 
sonable to  expect  a  set-back.  To  the  astonishment, 
therefore,  of  all  Europe  the  German  government  in 
December,  1906,  on  a  ridiculous  issue,  ordered  the 
dissolution  of  parliament,  and  appealed  to  the  country. 
The  government  had  demanded  from  the  Reichstag  a 
supplementary  grant  of  29,220,000  marks,  a  compara- 
tively small  sum,  for  the  maintenance  of  troops  in  South- 
west Africa.  In  spite  of  a  pathetic  appeal  from  the 
Chancellor,  Prince  von  Buelow,  this  demand  was  re- 
jected. The  Conservatives,  Antisemites,  and  National 
Liberals  were  ready  to  give  their  168  votes,  but  the 
Clerical  and  Social  Democratic  parties  refused  their  178 
votes.  The  latter  went  so  far  as  to  demand  a  reduction 
in  the  fighting  strength  in  the  colony  from  8000  to 
2500  men.  Military  advisers  declared  that  any  such  re- 
duction would  be  dangerous  to  the  interest  of  the  Ger- 
man colonial  policy.  Buelow,  who  was  anxious  to  cut 
himself  loose  from  the  control  of  the  Clericals,  insisted 
upon  the  Reichstag  voting  the  required  sum,  and  upon 
his  defeat,  he  carried  out  his  threat  of  dissolution. 
There  was  tremendous  excitement  throughout  the  Ger- 
man empire,  but  the  general  belief  was  that  the  actual 
position  would  not  be  changed,  and  that  the  government 
would  have  to  meet  the  same  opposition  when  the  next 
parliament  assembled. 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  1 5 

The  Reichstag  is  elected  by  universal  manhood  suf- 
frage by  ballot  (every  man  of  25  has  a  vote),  and  there 
is  supposed  to  be  one  deputy  for  every  100,000  inhabit- 
ants. But  the  electoral  divisions  were  settled  in  1869 
and  1 87 1,  and  have  never  since  been  altered.  In  1871 
there  were  397  deputies,  because  the  population  was  at 
that  time  about  39,000,000;  but  since  then  it  has  increased 
to  nearly  60,000,000,  and  the  number  of  deputies  has 
remained  the  same.  The  rural  population  of  Germany 
has  during  this  period  decreased,  while  that  of  the  cities 
has  increased  many-fold.  For  example,  Berlin,  in  1869, 
had  600,000  inhabitants,  and  therefore  six  members.  It 
now  has  a  population  of  nearly  2,000,000,  and  should 
have  20  members,  but  it  is  still  represented  by  only  six. 
The  Clericals  and  Conservatives  are  usually  returned 
from  rural  and  thinly  populated  districts,  while  the 
Social  Democrats  gain  their  support  mainly  from  the 
cities  and  large  industrial  centres.  For  instance,  they 
elect  all  but  one  of  the  members  for  Berlin,  and  have 
great  strength  in  Chemnitz,  Zwickaw,  Stuttgart,  Frank- 
fort, Karlsruhe,  Dortmund,  Duisberg,  Hannover,  Ham- 
burg, Munich,  Nuremberg,  Leipsic,  etc.  But  it  is 
precisely  these  places  that  suffer  from  inadequate  rep- 
resentation, and  consequently  the  Social  Democrats, 
with  over  3,000,000  votes,  send  only  43  deputies  to  the 
Reichstag,  while  the  Conservative  party,  with  1,000,000, 
returns  fifty-nine. 

In  Germany,  as  in  other  continental  countries,  there 
are  many  parties  with  different  shades  of  political  opinion. 
It  is  difficult  to  give  an  American  an  exact  idea  of  what 
they  stand  for,  as  they  differ  so  much  from  our  parties. 
They  represent  almost  every  point  of  view  ;  sometimes 
standing  for  the  interests  of  one  class  or  another  ;  some- 


1 6  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

times  for  the  interests  of  certain  nationalities  in  the  em- 
pire ;    sometimes   for    specific    economic  and  political 
principles.     It   may,    however,  be    said    that  there  are 
sixteen  different  parties  or  fractions,  as  they  are  called 
in  Germany,  the  five  most  important  of  which  represent 
as   nearly  as  possible  the  following  definite  interests  : 
The   Conservatives  are  a  powerful  group  representing 
the  old  aristocracy,  and  supporting  monarchical  and  auto- 
cratic  institutions.     The    National    Liberals    here,    as 
everywhere,  represent  the  industrial  interests,  and  while 
politically  more  advanced  than  the  Conservatives,  from 
the  economic  point  of  view  their  interests  are  even  more 
opposed  to  the  workers  than  those  of  the  Conservatives. 
During  the  last  ten  years  the  Liberals  have  been  forced 
to  support  the  monarchy.     The   Freisinnige  represent 
the  Free  Trade  section ;  their  philosophy  is  mainly  that 
of  the  Manchester  School,  and  their  watchword  "  Modern 
Progress  and  Freedom  of  Commerce."     The  two  most 
powerful  parties  are  the  Clericals  and  the  Social  Demo- 
crats ;  together  they  have  as  many  votes  as  all  the  others 
combined ;  but  the  division  between  them  is  complete. 
The  Clericals  represent  the  Catholic  interests.     Their 
strength  is  among  the  most  conservative  and  often  the 
most  ignorant  classes  of  the  population,  and  their  power 
is  immense.     The  Social  Democrats,  on  the  other  hand, 
represent  the  wage-earners,  and  the  most  intelligent  and 
far-seeing  of  the  small-propertied  classes. 

With  this  short  statement  of  the  suffrage  inequahties 
and  party  divisions  the  electoral  campaign  will  be  more 
intelligible.  Having  broken  with  the  Clericals,  Buelow 
had  now  to  look  elsewhere  for  the  governmental  ma- 
jority. Accordingly,  when  he  gave  out  the  "Wahl- 
parole,"  he  did  not  publish  it  in  an  official  paper,  but 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  1 7 

addressed  an  open  letter  to  the  head  of  the  National 
Party  {Reichspartei),  a  section  of  the  Liberals  whose 
chief  aim  is  to  combat  the  socialist  movement.  The 
combating  of  socialism  was  the  bridge  which,  it  was 
hoped,  would  join  the  Conservatives  and  the  Liberals ; 
and  it  was  decided  their  electoral  tactics  should  be  to 
try  to  awaken  that  apathetic  part  of  the  propertied  class, 
who  seldom  trouble  to  vote,  to  a  sense  of  the  danger  of 
revolutionary  socialism.  This  made  it  appear  that  the 
government  was  not  chiefly  combating  the  Clericals, 
although,  as  was  subsequently  shown,  it  used  under- 
hand methods  in  its  vain  attempt  to  crush  their  power. 
Nevertheless,  the  electoral  campaign  resolved  itself 
mainly  into  a  struggle  of  Conservatives  and  Nationalists 
against  Social  Democrats. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  "  the  honor  of 
the  nation  "  was  preached  from  every  reactionary  plat- 
form, but  rather  unfortunately  for  the  empire-makers 
the  government  itself  was  obliged,  at  the  end  of  a  week, 
to  admit  that  the  war  with  the  Hereros  was  at  an  end. 
This,  however,  did  not  discourage  the  bourgeois  candi- 
dates from  exploiting  the  people's  patriotism.  Votes 
were  obtained  by  every  means  possible.  The  workers 
were  beguiled,  by  jingoism  and  imperialism,  into  forget- 
ting their  own  troubles ;  the  bourgeois  were  awakened 
to  the  danger  in  which  their  privileges  stood  from  social- 
ism. The  merchants  were  terrified  into  action  at  the 
impending  danger  of  a  socialist  state,  and  were  assured 
that  their  only  hope  lay  in  joining  to  form  a  compact 
majority.  The  interested  classes  were  called  on  to 
support  the  institutions  which  supported  them.  The 
disinterested  and  exploited  workers  were  fed  with 
Chauvinism  and   fallacies    concerning  the   advantages 


1 8  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

which  would  accrue  to  them  from  the  colonial  policy  of 
the  government.  Glowing  pictures  of  the  might  of 
Great  Britain,  due,  it  was  pointed  out,  to  her  compre- 
hensive colonial  poHcy,  were  played  up  before  them. 
These  chords  were  harped  upon,  as  we  shall  see,  with 
considerable,  success. 

Social  Democrats  make  no  compromises  with  the 
bourgeois.  They  agree  to  nothing  that  will  not  radically 
change  the  present  system  ;  and  the  rulers,  knowing 
that  they  cannot  placate  them  by  passing  small  reforms, 
are  now  awake  to  the  fact  that  if  they  are  to  con- 
tinue their  present  power,  they  must  crush  socialism. 
The  sociahsts  in  parliament  had,  in  some  cases,  opposed 
small  measures  of  reform  as  being  inadequate,  and  their 
opponents  were  not  slow  to  misrepresent  this  action  to 
the  workers,  telUng  them  that  the  socialists  did  not  want 
or  intend  to  pass  measures  for  their  benefit.  The  trade 
unions  look  to  the  socialist  members  to  support  reforms 
in  their  interest  sometimes  without  regard  to  Social 
Democratic  principles,  and  occasionally  the  socialists  in 
parliament  have  not  done  so,  preferring  to  oppose  reform 
measures  which  only  tend  to  stanch  and  not  to  heal 
injustice  caused  by  the  present  system.  It  is  easy  for 
the  other  parties  to  turn  to  their  own  advantage 
such  action  on  the  part  of  sociahsts.  Besides  these 
"constitutional  "  methods  of  attacking  socialism,  the  re- 
actionary parties  used  others. 

It  would  seem  almost  unbelievable  that  in  modern 
Germany  methods  were  used  to  coerce  people  to  vote 
against  their  convictions  and  interests.  Nevertheless, 
that  seems  to  be  the  fact,  and  it  has  since  been  proved 
that  the  governmental  machinery  was  used  to  carry  out 
a  great  scheme  of  intimidation  against  the  workers.     As 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY 


19 


we  know,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  free  speech  in  Ger- 
many. Every  poHtical  meeting  is  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  a  "gendarme,"  who  may  declare  a  meeting 
illegal  if  he  considers  the  speeches  dangerous  to  the 
powers  that  be.  It  is  therefore  a  very  simple  matter 
for  those  in  authority  to  break  up  and  prevent  socialist 
meetings.  As  this  power  was  used  to  its  greatest  ex- 
tent in  the  last  elections,  the  socialist  campaign  was 
greatly  handicapped.  Many  saloon-keepers  were  forced 
by  brewers  and  rich  proprietors  to  refuse  to  let  their 
rooms  to  socialists,  and  meetings  were  dispersed  on  the 
flimsiest  pretexts.  The  socialists  in  many  places  took 
to  holding  meetings  in  the  open  air,  but  the  season  was 
against  them.  As  an  instance  of  really  tyrannical  in- 
timidation may  be  cited  a  case  in  the  industrial  town 
of  Saar,  where  the  employers  engaged  men,  armed  with 
cudgels,  to  attack  socialist  propagandists. 

So  much  for  the  battle  carried  on  against  the  social- 
ists. The  figures  of  the  parliamentary  strength  of  the 
chief  parties  before  and  after  the  election  may  be  given 
as  follows  :  — 


1903 

1907 

Votes 

Deputies 

Votes 

Deputies 

Centre  (Catholics) 

1,875,292 

100 

2,183,381 

105 

Conservatives 

948,448 

55 

1,070,658 

59 

National  Liberals 

1,3 '3.05 1 

52 

1.654,738 

55 

Social  Democrats 

3.OIO.77I 

81 

3,258,968 

43 

All  other  parties 

2,348,025 

109 

2,994.353 

13s 

From  these  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  the  government 
gained  a  striking  parliamentary  victory,  but  it  would  be 
a  mistake  to  think  that  the  socialists  suffered  defeat. 


20  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

The  strength  of  socialism  in  Germany  cannot  be 
measured  by  the  number  of  its  parHamentary  represen- 
tatives, because  its  parUamentary  strength  depends 
largely  on  the  electoral  law.  At  present  this  does  not 
permit  the  socialists  to  show  their  real  strength,  and  the 
electoral  law  might  be  so  changed  that  it  would  be 
impossible  for  them  to  capture  a  single  seat.  These 
electoral  changes  have  little  significance,  however. 
The  vote  is  a  better  test,  as  the  number  of  convinced 
sociahsts  alone  is  the  true  measure  of  the  real  power  of 
the  movement.  In  the  judgment  of  the  leaders  the 
socialists  actually  gained  a  great  victory.  The  first 
reason  for  this  behef  is  that  in  the  face  of  a  terrific 
campaign  they  increased  their  vote  by  250,000.  The 
second  is  that  they  have  finally  forced  the  more 
advanced  sections  of  the  bourgeois  parties  into  the 
conservative  ranks.  In  other  words  they  have  been 
fortunate  in  this  campaign  in  compelHng  the  other 
parties  to  form  a  block  to  fight  unitedly  the  interests 
of  the  working-class.  The  Liberals,  only  too  glad  to 
throw  in  their  lot  with  the  government,  have  therefore 
ceased  to  be  an  opposition  party ;  and  now  that  they 
have  sided  with  the  government  in  favor  of  reaction, 
their  influence  with  the  people  will  diminish.  This  forc- 
ing of  other  parties  into  the  ranks  of  the  reactionaries 
is  a  great  gain  for  the  sociaHst  cause,  for  in  the  next 
elections  hundreds  of  thousands  of  voters  will  see  that 
there  is  no  longer  any  hope  of  reform  from  these  other 
parties. 

The  loss  of  sociaHst  seats,  then,  is  not  due  to  a 
diminution  of  socialist  strength.  It  is  the  result  of  the 
cooperation  of  all  parties,  excepting  the  Clericals, 
against  socialism,  and  the  bringing  to  the  booths  of  a 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY 


21 


great  mass  of  apathetic  citizens  who  seldom  vote. 
Whatever  could  be  done  by  the  government  to  weaken 
the  suffrage  of  socialists  was  done ;  but  these  methods 
have  their  limit,  as  "Vorwarts"  said  immediately  after 
the  first  election.  From  1877  to  1884  the  socialist  vote 
only  increased  from  493,288  to  549,990,  but  from  1884 
to  1903  the  party  gained  an  increase  in  votes  of 
2,500,000.  In  the  five  years  1898- 1903  they  increased 
nearly  1,000,000.  But  these  million  new  voters  were 
not  all  grounded  socialists,  while  those  in  the  late 
election,  some  three  and  a  quarter  million,  who  gave 
their  support  to  socialist  candidates  were,  it  is  fair  to 
assume,  no  raw  recruits,  but  thoroughgoing  sociaHsts. 
All  but  the  very  surest  were  swept  away  in  the  tumult 
of  jingoism  created  by  the  other  parties. 

Growth  of  Social  Democracy  since  1867 


Votes 

Deputies 

I87I 

124,655 

2 

1874 

351.952 

ID 

1877 

493.288 

13 

1878 

437.158 

9 

I88I 

311,961 

13 

1884 

549.990 

24 

1887 

763,128 

II 

1890 

1,427,298 

35 

1893 

1,786,738 

44 

1898 

2,107,076 

56 

1903 

3,010,771 

81 

1907 

3,258,968 

43 

Figures  are  sometimes  illuminating,  and  the  preced- 
ing table  will  show  clearly  the  growing  power  of  the 
socialist  movement  in  Germany.     No  comment  is  neces- 


22  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

sary,  but  it  may  be  of  use  to  the  reader  if  he  will 
compare  for  the  various  years  the  electoral  strength  with 
the  number  of  representatives  sent  to  the  Reichstag. 
It  will  be  observed  that  this  is  not  the  first  time  the 
socialists  have  increased  their  votes  and  lost  seats.  In 
1887  they  lost  over  half  their  parliamentary  represen- 
tation, and  yet  they  gained  an  increased  vote  of  nearly 
200,000. 

These  figures  show  a  remarkable  and  significant 
growth,  and  it  is  natural  to  ask  what  use  have  the 
socialists  made  of  this  increasing  power  ?  It  is  gen- 
erally known  that  within  the  last  thirty  years  Germany 
has  developed  a  daring  policy  of  State  Socialism. 
Municipal  and  national  ownership  of  pubHc  utilities 
and  natural  resources  has  proceeded  at  a  pace  that 
has  amazed  the  rest  of  Europe.  At  the  same  time 
labor  legislation  for  the  protection  of  the  working- 
class  has  been  developed  until  it  is  a  model  for  Europe. 
Social  and  industrial  conditions  have  been  revolution- 
ized. The  conditions  of  the  working-class  in  Germany 
have  been  changed  so  that  what  were  among  the  worst 
in  Europe  are  now  the  best.  Some  mighty  force  has 
wrought  this  change.  No  one,  so  far  as  I  know, 
believes  that  it  is  due  to  superior  benevolence  on  the 
part  of  the  upper  classes  of  Germany,  or  that  they  are 
more  humane  than  the  like  classes  of  other  nations. 
Indeed,  it  is  sometimes  doubted  that  the  German 
capitalists  are,  as  a  rule,  as  philanthropically  inclined 
as,  for  instance,  those  of  England.  And  yet  the  fact 
remains  that  despite  the  lack  of  unusual  concern  for 
the  welfare  of  the  masses,  Germany  has  evolved  an 
exceptional  and  admirable  code  of  legislation  which  has 
materially  improved  the  condition  of  the  masses. 


THE  GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  23 

It  is  impossible  to  place  this  beneficent  legislation  to 
the  credit  of  the  old  Emperor,  and  no  one  knowing  the 
history  of  recent  years  can  feel  that  the  credit  belongs 
to  the  capitalists.  On  the  contrary,  they  fought  it  at 
every  step,  and  accepted  it  finally  with  lamentation. 
Indeed,  it  was  not  a  voluntary  policy  on  the  part  either 
of  the  Emperor  or  of  Bismarck  or  of  the  capitalists.  It 
was  forced  upon  the  nation  by  the  insistent  demands 
and  threatening  power  of  a  united  and  uncompromising 
working-class.  It  was  this  force  which  made  a  change 
of  policy  necessary,  and  it  was  Bismarck's  shrewd  po- 
litical sagacity  that  devised  a  plan  to  ease  the  struggle, 
to  soften  the  lot  of  the  workers,  and  yet  to  keep  capi- 
talism intact. 

The  real  significance  of  the  matter  is  that  as  liberal- 
ism in  the  early  part  of  the  century  forced  its  way  to 
freedom  through  the  restrictions  and  privileges  of  the 
land-owning  classes,  so  in  these  later  days  socialism  is 
forcing  upon  capitalism,  legislation  giving  greater  free- 
dom to  the  masses  and  more  generous  treatment  to  the 
producers.  Liberalism  gained  its  object  by  a  series 
of  violent  outbreaks  and  bloody  revolutions.  The 
working-class  has  thus  far  in  Germany  pursued  its 
course  peacefully,  and  has  gained  what  has  already 
been  accorded  to  it  only  by  an  impressive  and  insistent 
solidarity.  Just  as  liberalism  revolutionized  the  eco- 
nomic and  political  policies  of  the  old  feudal  powers, 
socialism  begins  to  revolutionize  the  economic  policy 
of  capitalism. 

A  bit  of  history  will  fully  prove  this  assertion.  Social 
Democracy,  naturally  enough,  made  but  little  progress 
in  Germany  before  1871.  The  agitation  of  Lassalle, 
Liebknecht,  and  Bebel  was  already  putting  the  working- 


24  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

class  into  a  state  of  ferment  and  unrest.  Up  to  that 
time  Social  Democracy  as  a  political  force  was  insignifi- 
cant. But  the  disintegration  of  the  old  political  par- 
ties, due  largely  to  the  financial  crisis  resulting  from 
the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  Bismarck's  adverse  laws 
against  the  Catholics,  gave  the  socialists  their  first  po- 
litical opening.  Both  Liebknecht  and  Bebel  were  im- 
prisoned for  the  publication  of  treasonable  writings ; 
nevertheless,  whilst  still  in  prison,  both  were  returned 
to  the  Reichstag,  and  the  Social  Democratic  Party 
polled  a  surprisingly  large  vote.  The  government  be- 
came frightened  and  the  police  were  ordered  to  carry 
on  a  campaign  of  extermination  against  the  socialists. 
Instead  of  this  having  the  desired  effect  of  breaking  up 
and  destroying  the  various  groups  then  existing,  it  forced 
them  to  unite  for  the  common  good.  In  the  year  1875 
they  finally  completed  their  union,  and  from  that  time 
until  to-day  there  has  been  a  united  working  men's 
party.  In  the  year  1877  the  party  polled  nearly 
a  half-million  votes,  elected  12  men  to  the  Reichstag, 
and  many  other  representatives  to  state  and  municipal 
administrative  bodies  throughout  Germany.  The  fear  of 
Social  Democracy  was  naturally  increased  by  its  con- 
tinued success.  In  May,  1878,  the  Emperor  was  shot 
at.  In  June  of  the  same  year  he  was  fired  at  again  and 
severely  wounded.  These  two  attempts  upon  his  life, 
while  in  no  way  connected  with  the  Social  Democrats, 
were  nevertheless  represented  to  be  the  result  of  their 
agitation  ;  and  they  gave  Bismarck  the  opportunity  he 
desired  to  pass  his  anti-socialist  legislation.  Then  be- 
gan a  period  of  governmental  repression,  carried  on 
by  all  the  powers  of  the  state,  against  social  democracy. 
Instead,  however,  of  destroying  the  movement,  it  merely 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  2$ 

forced  it  underground ;  and  through  secret  organization 
the  party  continued  to  carry  on  its  propaganda,  and  to 
gather  under  its  banner  new  recruits.  Herr  Richter, 
the  Progressist  leader,  was  quite  right  when  he  prophe- 
sied, "  I  fear  social  democracy  more  under  this  law 
than  without  it." 

Bismarck  was  too  shrewd  a  politician  to  use  but  one 
weapon  in  an  emergency  of  this  sort.  With  one  hand 
he  made  a  gigantic  effort  to  annihilate  the  socialist 
party ;  the  other  he  reached  out  ostentatiously  in  sym- 
pathy to  the  working-class.  By  the  side  of  repression 
he  developed  his  policy  of  State  Socialism.  He  turned 
his  mind  for  the  time  from  purely  political  and  diplo- 
matic problems  to  economic  questions,  and  he  frankly 
stated  at  various  times  in  the  Reichstag  that  he  intended 
to  adopt  as  a  policy  every  reasonable  measure  advocated 
by  the  socialists,  and  to  carry  them  out  for  the  benefit 
of  the  workers.  He  went  even  further  and  announced 
that  he  was  himself  a  socialist,  and  acknowledged  the 
"  right  to  work,"  and  the  responsibility  of  the  state  to 
protect  the  working-class,  and  to  provide  for  those 
broken  down  in  industry.  The  Emperor  also  insisted 
upon  the  passage  of  legislation  which  would  positively 
advance  the  welfare  of  the  working-classes.  "  Past 
institutions,"  he  said  in  his  message  to  the  Reichstag 
in  1879,  "intended  to  insure  working  people  against  the 
danger  of  falling  into  a  condition  of  helplessness  owing 
to  the  incapacity  resulting  from  accident  or  age,  have 
proved  inadequate,  and  their  insufficiency  has  to  no 
small  extent  contributed  to  cause  the  working-classes 
to  seek  help  by  participating  in  Social  Democratic 
movements." 

It  would  be  easy  to  quote  from  the  speeches  of  Bis- 


26  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

marck,  Bebel,  Liebknecht,  and  other  parliamentary 
leaders  of  the  time,  as  well  as  from  the  Emperor's 
messages  to  the  Reichstag,  to  show  that  the  socialist 
movement  forced  upon  the  government  this  change  of 
policy.*  Other  countries  have  in  some  rare  instances 
partially  abandoned  the  policy  of  laissez  faire  on  be- 
coming informed  of  its  merciless  ruin  of  the  poor ; 
but  in  Germany  social  democracy  has  forced  its  com- 
plete abandonment  by  the  state.  Alone  in  Europe  at 
this  time  the  German  working-class  was  conscious  of 
its  power  and  wise  in  its  solidarity,  and  alone  in  Europe 
the  German  capitalists  were  thus  early  forced  to 
capitulate. 

In  the  midst  of  these  stirring  times  a  plan  was  put 
before  the  Reichstag  for  the  insurance  of  working  men, 
and  in  the  years  that  have  followed  this  legislation  has 
been  so  improved  and  extended  that  now  every  work- 
man's family  possessing  an  income  under  $500  a  year 
is  assured  of  a  pension  in  case  of  need  due  either  to 
sickness,  accident,  old  age,  or  death.  Up  to  the  eighties 
very  little  legislation  had  been  passed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  workmen  while  employed,  but  an  improved 
code  was  drawn  up,  which  has  become  a  part  of  the 
legislation  of  the  empire.  Railroads  and  other  public 
utilities,  mines  and  other  natural  resources,  have  been 
gradually  taken  over  by  the  state.  Public  utilities  neces- 
sary to  the  various  municipalities  have  been  municipal- 
ized, and  an  improved  system  of  taxation,  intended  to 
relieve  the  pressure  upon  the  poorer  classes,  has  also 
been  drawn  up  and  passed. f 

The  result  of  this  State  Socialism  was  not  felt  imme- 

*  See  also  pp.  223-224. 

t  For  a  fuller  treatment  of  social  reform  in  Germany  see  Chapter  VII. 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY  27 

diately.  Indeed,  one  only  begins  now  to  see  its  effect 
upon  the  German  nation.  When  it  was  introduced, 
Germany  was  on  the  verge  of  ruin.  Trade,  industry, 
and  agriculture  were  depressed,  and  the  laboring- 
classes  were  among  the  most  miserable  in  Europe. 
The  cities  were  filled  with  wretchedness  and  poverty ; 
they  were  insanitary ;  the  housing  of  the  people  was 
abominable ;  and  everywhere  the  masses  of  the  poor 
lived  in  abject  misery.  The  policy  of  laissez  /aire  had 
brought  Germany  to  the  same  bankrupt  condition  that 
one  still  finds  in  England  and  that  begins  to  show 
itself  in  America.  The  working-class,  hopelessly  dis- 
couraged, and  embittered  by  poverty,  was  in  a  state  of 
dangerous  discontent ;  and  Bismarck  became  convinced 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  retaining  its  political  alle- 
giance while  its  misery  was  unbearable. 

It  would  be  folly  to  maintain  that  State  Socialism  has 
been  the  sole  cause  of  what  is,  comparatively  speaking, 
the  present  remarkable  prosperity  of  the  German  em- 
pire ;  and  yet  no  one  can  doubt  that  no  matter  what 
other  forces  may  have  been  at  work,  the  policy  of  pro- 
tecting the  working-classes,  and  of  ameliorating  their 
condition  of  life,  has  been  one  powerful  cause  of  the 
improved  conditions.  Industry  in  Germany  is  enjoy- 
ing a  prosperity  equalled  perhaps  nowhere  else.  The 
exports  have  increased  at  a  rate  rarely  equalled  by 
any  other  country.  The  concentration  of  wealth  has 
been  no  less  striking  than  in  the  United  States. 
Trusts,  combinations,  and  pools  have  rendered  indus- 
trial operations  more  economical,  and  relieved  the 
nation  of  some  of  the  ruinous  costs  of  competition. 
Along  with  this  enrichment  of  the  capitaHst  has  pro- 
ceeded an  amelioration  of  the  living  and  working  con- 


28  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ditions  of  the  people.  The  state  insurance  system  of 
Germany  distributes  over  ;^  100,000,000  every  year  to 
the  working-class  in  the  form  of  benefits  and  indemni-- 
ties.*  The  municipalities  have  so  improved  the  living 
conditions  in  the  cities  that  to-day  there  are  prac- 
tically no  slums  in  Germany.  The  aged  and  sick,  the 
injured  in  industry,  all  have  their  little  patrimony  to 
keep  them  from  want.  There  is  poverty  in  Germany, 
wages  are  low,  conditions  are  still  intolerable ;  but  the 
improvement  over  the  old  days  and  over  the  condi- 
tions still  obtaining  in  neighboring  countries  gives 
one  the  impression  that  there  is  -no  dire  want  in  the 
German  empire. 

When  this  enlightened  policy  was  forced  upon  the 
government,  and  Bismarck  pleaded  for  its  acceptance, 
the  large  industrialists  prophesied  the  ruin  of  German  in- 
dustry. It  was  repeatedly  said  that  the  heavy  burdens 
placed  upon  capital  by  the  new  legislation  could  not  be 
borne,  and  that  German  industry  would  be  unable  to 
continue  in  competition  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 
When  liberalism  defeated  landlordism,  it  was  said,  as 
we  all  know,  that  the  ruin  of  the  nations  had  come.  Now 
that  socialism  is  defeating  liberalism,  it  is  being  said 
that  the  ruin  of  industry  is  certain.  But  capitahsm  for- 
gets one  thing;  namely,  that  labor  can  be  exhausted 
and  made  unprofitable.  Of  course  it  is  not  primarily  for 
the  capitalists  to  remember  the  interests  of  labor,  and  if 
the  workers  did  not  organize  to  protect  themselves,  they 
would  be  exhausted  and  impoverished.     For  humanity 

*  In  1 903  the  number  insured  against  sickness  was  nearly  eleven  million; 
the  number  insured  against  accident  was  nearly  eighteen  million;  and 
the  number  insured  against  old  age  and  invalidity  was  about  thirteen  and 
a  half  million. 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY  29 

is  a  part  of  nature,  and  labor,  like  land,  must  be  enriched 
in  order  to  make  it  productive.  It  is,  therefore,  a  curious 
fact  that  a  policy  which  was  forced  upon  capitalists 
blinded  by  self-interest,  and  which  it  was  claimed  threat- 
ened them  with  ruin,  has  in  no  slight  degree  actually 
promoted  their  present  prosperity. 

The  German  movement  has  much  to  teach  us.  To  a 
poHtical  reformer  it  has  a  lesson  ;  namely,  that  a  "  third 
party  "  can  exercise  an  influence  almost  equal  to  that  of 
a  party  in  power.  To  the  laborer  it  demonstrates  the 
possibility  of  improving  his  own  condition  even  now  if 
he  will  but  unite  with  his  fellows.  To  the  sociaHst 
it  proves  that  a  party  which  demands  the  social  revolu- 
tion has  a  long  struggle  ahead  of  it,  but  in  the  meantime 
it  obtains  incidentally  an  increasing  and  striking  amelio- 
ration of  existing  conditions.  These  are  not  unimpor- 
tant by-products  of  the  labor  movement  in  politics,  for 
that  is  all  they  can  be  called,  as  the  social  democracy  of 
Germany  has  never  been  in  power  and  has  never  of  it- 
self been  able  to  pass  a  single  law.  It  has  rarely  col- 
laborated with  other  parties,  and  it  has  been  forced  during 
the  last  forty  years  to  be  merely  an  ominous  protest,  a 
source  of  real  apprehension  if  not  of  dread  to  the  German 
government.  Without  supreme  power  its  final  revolu- 
tionary program  can,  of  course,  never  be  fully  realized. 
What  it  has  gained  is  merely  the  reform  of  present 
economic  conditions.  It  has  made  no  serious  inroads 
upon  capitalism,  but  it  has  forced  capitalism  to  be  more 
just  and  merciful  to  the  producing  masses.  In  order  to 
win  from  social  democracy  its  adherents,  capitalism  has 
endeavored  to  render  the  party  powerless,  and  has 
given  with  its  own  hand,  as  an  indication  of  what  it 
wishes  to  appear  as  its  native   generosity,  the   social 


30 


SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 


reforms  of  the  last  thirty  years.  The  reason  why  these 
same  reforms  have  not  been  carried  out  in  England 
and  America,  or  indeed  anywhere  else,  is  because  the 
working-class  has  not  expressed  its  will  with  the  same 
unity  and  solidarity. 

The  working-class  in  Germany  knows  how  to  use  its 
power  in  its  own  original  way.     Its  independence  of  the 
other  political  parties,  and  the  fact  that  the  bureaucracy 
has  managed  thus  far  to  keep  it  out  of  power,  has  forced 
upon  it  the  role  of  critic.     In  this  capacity  it  exercises 
an  incredible   influence.     Its  minorities  in  the  various 
legislative    bodies    never    allow   the    parties    that    rule 
to   ignore  social,  political,  and  industrial  evils.     Under 
this    unfriendly    and    relentless     eye    the    parties    in 
power  do  not  dare  to  give  franchises,  grants,  and  special 
privileges  to  private  interests.     Graft  is  almost  unknown. 
No  evil  escapes  the  socialists ;  no  reform  satisfies  them. 
Their  ideals  and  aims  are  beyond  any  immediate  attain- 
ment,  and   national    ownership,    municipal    ownership, 
labor  protection,  the  demolition  of  slums,  the  aboHtion  of 
child  labor  —  none  of  these  reforms  receive  from  them  more 
than  a  cold  approval.     There  is  always  something  more 
that  must  be  done,  some  other  grievance  to  be  removed. 
The  working-class  in  Germany  is  Hke  an  awfulconscience, 
voicing  the  evils  of  society,  condemning  the  acts  of  the 
powerful,  setting  forth  the  ideal  of  the  future.     Autoc- 
racy can  cripple  it,  can  even  render  it  physically  impo- 
tent ;  but  it  knows  not  how  to  destroy  its  spirit.     For 
thirty  years  two  great  forces,  class  and  mass,  have  been 
giving  battle,  each  frankly  bent  upon  the  other's    de- 
struction.   Does  any  one  doubt  that  that  one  will  conquer 
whose  morality  is  the  truest,  whose  ideals  are  the  highest, 
and  whose  spirit  expresses  the  faith  of  the  time  ? 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    ITALIAN    SOCIALIST    PARTY 

In  the  Eternal  City,  in  the  new  and  handsome  Casa 
del  Popolo,  the  sociahsts'  own  meeting-hall,  the  congress 
of  the  Italian  Sociahst  Party  was  in  session.  Every  one 
was  alive  with  excitement,  as  it  had  been  rumored  that 
the  party  would  be  split  into  a  thousand  fragments. 
The  Reformists,  led  by  their  able  and  forceful  Turati ; 
the  Syndicalists,  led  by  their  brilliant,  emotional,  and 
impractical  Labriola ;  and  the  Integralists,  led  by  the 
impressive  and  not  always  consistent  Ferri,  —  all  were 
there,  and  lost  no  time  in  giving  battle. 

It  seemed  only  natural  in  Rome  to  be  witnessing  a 
battle  of  giants,  a  turbulent,  hero-worshipping  populace 
broken  into  factions,  and  the  fate  of  one  of  the  greatest 
and  noblest  nations  in  the  world  resting  upon  the  out- 
come. At  any  rate,  as  I  sat  three  days  in  that  hall,  this 
appeared  to  be  not  far  from  the  actual  situation.  With 
all  the  lovable  quaUties ;  with  a  fine  and  sincere  admira- 
tion for  power  and  greatness ;  with  quick  and  agile  in- 
telligence;  with  childlike  frankness  and  honesty;  with 
idealism  and  splendid  emotion,  quick  to  resent,  quick  to 
forgive ;  these  men  sat  together  for  three  days  backing 
their  leaders  like  boys  with  fighting  cocks, — apparently 
deciding  nothing  of  importance  except  not  to  split,  but 
discussing  almost  everything  in  the  wide  world  of 
interest.  It  was  a  thousand  times  more  engaging  than 
the  German  congress.     It  was  comic,  tragic,  lyric,  and 

3' 


32  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

absorbing  to  watch.  At  times  it  was  as  impressive  as 
cannonry,  and  as  brilliant  as  fireworks  ;  but  in  the  end  a 
thing  of  wonder  and  bewilderment. 

The  middle-class  character  of  the  Italian  gathering 
astonished  me  most.  In  almost  every  other  country  the 
sociaUst  movement  is  mainly  proletarian.  In  Germany 
there  are  few  men  in  the  movement  not  of  the  working- 
class.  In  the  Italian  assembly  there  were  evidently  few 
who  had  ever  done  manual  work,  and  most  of  the  dele- 
gates were  well,  and  many  even  fashionably,  dressed. 
Not  only  are  theTeaders,  Ferri,  Labriola,  and  Turati, 
what  they  call  on  the  continent  "intellectuals,"  but  so 
also  were  many  of  the  delegates  from  the  unions,  co- 
operative societies,  and  other  working  men's  organiza- 
tions. This  is  peculiar  to  the  Italian  movement.  In 
probably  no  other  country  except  Russia  are  there  so 
many  socialists  among  the  scholars,  scientists,  and  emi- 
nent writers.  Lombroso,  one  of  the  most  noted  scien- 
tists in  Europe,  and  easily  the  foremost  criminologist, 
is  a  member  of  the  party.  As  adherents  and  sympa- 
thizers it  counts,  among  others,  De  Amicis,  the  most 
widely  read  of  the  Italian  novelists;  Ferrero,  a  social 
writer  of  great  influence ;  Graf,  Guerrini,  and  Pascoli, 
among  the  most  talented  of  the  poets ;  Sanarelli,  the 
well-known  scientist  and  discoverer  of  the  yellow  fever 
germ ;  Chiaruggi,  a  leading  embryologist ;  and  Cat- 
telli,  the  physicist.  Fogazzaro  is  sympathetic,  and  Ga- 
briel D'Annunzio  stood  as  a  candidate  of  the  party 
at  a  recent  election.  To  be  sure,  the  other  movements 
in  Europe  have  some  equally  well-known  sympathizers, 
but  in  other  countries  they  are  exceptions.  In  Italy 
thousands  of  students,  professors,  and  professional  men 
openly  support  the  socialist  movement.     A  careful  cen- 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST  PARTY  33 

sus  was  made  in  1904  to  determine  the  various  vocations 
of  the  members  of  the  party.  The  results  bear  out  the 
statement  that  the  ItaHan  movement  is  dominated  by 
middle-class  elements.  It  was  shown  that  from  20  to 
30  per  cent  of  the  members  were  industrial  workers ; 
from  15  to  20  per  cent  rural  workers;  and  between  50 
and  60  per  cent  professional  men,  merchants,  students, 
and  small  proprietors. 

The  electoral  strength  of  the  party  is,  of  course,  mainly 
among  the  working-classes,  but  thus  far  the  great  mass 
of  Italian  working  men  have  been  too  little  educated 
and  too  little  trained  in  organization  to  be  capable  of 
assuming  official  responsibilities.  There  are,  however, 
exceptions  to  this  general  statement.  The  most  power- 
ful labor  union  in  Italy  is  among  the  railwaymen.  The 
genius  of  the  organization  is  Quirino  Nofri,  formerly 
an  ordinary  railway  employee,  but  at  present  the  head 
of  the  union  as  well  as  member  of  parliament.  A 
strong  organization  exists  also  among  the  dockers. 
The  leader  is  Pietro  Chiesa,  a  powerful  and  influential 
man  who  has  risen  from  the  docks.  He  also  is  now  a 
member  of  parliament.  But  men  of  capacity  for  leader- 
ship and  organization  are  rare  among  the  working- 
classes  in  Italy.  Most  of  the  organizers  and  agitators 
in  the  unions  are  men  with  university  training;  and 
Labriola,  the  leader  of  the  unionists,  and  the  one  who 
most  bitterly  attacks  the  middle-class  control  of  the 
socialist  movement,  is  a  university  professor  and  suc- 
cessful advocate. 

The  middle-class  character  of  ItaHan  socialism  was 
perfectly  illustrated  by  the  reports  of  the  congress  pub- 
lished in  the  official  organ  of  the  party,  "  Avanti." 
After   the   name   of   certain    speakers  was   written   in 


34  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

parenthesis  operaio,  "workman."  This  term  of  expla- 
nation was  rarely  used,  as  few  working  men  were 
heard  during  the  congress.  Nearly  all  the  speakers 
were  middle-class  men  of  exceptional  ability  and  talent. 
They  were  democratic  and  devoted,  but  their  complete 
domination  over  the  congress  gave  one  the  feeling 
that  there  is  something  unsound  in  the  Italian  move- 
ment, and  inclined  one  to  think  that  there  must  come 
some  remarkable  and  revolutionary  changes  in  the 
party  itself  before  it  can  become  a  truly  socialist  or- 
ganization. 

Any  one,  however,  who  is  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
Italian  movement  is  badly  organized  will  find  himself 
mistaken.  Although  it  is  one  of  the  youngest  move- 
ments in  Europe,  it  has  during  the  last  fifteen  years 
made  wonderful  strides  toward  a  compact  and  power- 
ful organization  both  among  peasants  and  working 
men.  During  the  first  five  years  of  this  century  the 
growth  has  been  striking,  and  in  1906  it  numbered 
1250  sections,  with  over  41,000  members.  As  in  the 
German  movement,  all  of  the  members  pay  dues  and 
subscribe  to  the  program  and  tactics  of  the  party.  So 
large  a  number  of  pledged  men  makes  therefore  a  credit- 
able showing,  and  indeed,  with  the  exception  of  Den- 
mark, Belgium,  and  Germany,  the  organized  movement 
is  one  of  the  strongest  in  Europe.  It  differs  from  the 
German  party  in  one  important  feature.  The  unions  of 
the  peasants  and  industrial  workers,  the  cooperative 
societies,  and  the  other  purely  economic  organizations 
are  affiliated  directly  with  the  party.  Founded,  as  they 
have  been,  largely  by  the  party  leaders,  they  have  in 
almost  all  cases  become  branches  of  the  political  move- 
ment. 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  35 

The  Italian  socialist  party  is  one  of  the  few  move- 
ments in  Europe  which  have  made  appreciable  headway 
among  the  peasants.  This  is  a  fundamental  political 
necessity  in  Italy,  as  it  is  largely  an  agricultural  country 
and  no  party  of  any  consequence  can  exist  without  the 
adherence  of  the  rural  workers.  The  peasant  leagues 
or  unions  are  in  some  respects  peculiar  to  Ital}'.  They 
began  to  take  form  about  twenty  years  ago  under  the 
guidance  of  the  old  Garibaldian  forces.  Even  at  that 
time  they  had  a  political  character,  but  it  was  largely 
limited  to  republicanism.  In  the  nineties  the  peasant 
leagues  of  Venetia  and  EmiHa  developed  surprising 
strength  as  a  result  of  the  fearless  and  indefatigable 
propaganda  of  Professor  Enrico  Ferri,  who  about  this 
time  threw  his  entire  energies  into  the  socialist  move- 
ment. In  EmiHa  the  peasants  are  best  organized.  The 
unions  number  at  least  70,000  members  in  this  one 
district,  and  through  their  support  the  party  has  domi- 
nated most  of  the  local  governing  councils,  and  has 
returned  several  members  to  parliament.  From 
Emilia  the  unions  spread  throughout  the  north  of 
Italy,  until  now  they  number,  according  to  the  reports 
pf  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  not  less  than  220,000 
members. 

All  of  the  peasant  leagues  have  a  definite  political 
character,  and  most  of  them  are  affiliated  directly  to  the 
political  socialist  movement ;  but  their  greatest  achieve- 
ment has  been  on  the  purely  economic  field.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  estimate  in  figures  the  advantages 
which  they  have  gained  for  their  members.  The  esti- 
mate, made  by  one  Italian  writer,  that  the  peasants 
have  benefited  to  the  extent  of  about  $15,000,000 
yearly,  is  doubtless   made  upon  no  very  reliable  data. 


36  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

These  unions  have,  however,  been  the  backbone  of 
most  of  the  discontent  existing  throughout  this  section. 
And  as  hundreds  of  strikes  occur  yearly,  most  of  which 
appear  to  end  successfully  for  the  workers,  it  is  not  to 
be  doubted  that  these  organizations  have  wrought  a 
revolution  in  rural  conditions. 

The  unions  of  the  industrial  workers,  now  coming  to 
be  called  "  syndicats,"  after  the  French  word,  have  also 
a  large  membership,  approximating  400,000.  In  nearly 
all  the  main  industries  the  workers  have  developed 
strong  and  effective  unions,  and  recently  they  have 
formed  a  national  body.  In  about  a  hundred  centres 
the  unions  meet  in  the  so-called  Labor  Chambers, 
which  are  workmen's  temples,  built  as  a  rule  by  the 
municipality.  In  both  France  and  Italy  these  institu- 
tions are  under  the  semi-official  patronage  of  municipal 
authorities,  and  in  many  instances  the  officials  in  charge 
are  direct  employees  of  the  government.  Many  of  these 
halls  are  handsomely  built,  with  every  convenience  for 
carrying  on  the  work  of  the  unions ;  although  it  must 
be  said  that,  with  the  exception  of  those  municipahties 
under  socialist  control,  neither  the  Italian  nor  French 
cities  desire  in  the  least  to  promote  trade  unionism.  Both 
governments  to  a  certain  extent  still  look  upon  working 
men's  organizations  as  little  less  than  criminal,  and  it  is 
partly  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  them  constantly  under 
police  surveillance  that  they  have  provided  them  with 
these  general  meeting-places. 

Some  idea  of  the  popularity  of  the  Italian  movement 
can  be  gathered  from  a  study  of  its  electoral  strength. 
The  suffrage  in  Italy  is  restricted  by  a  literacy  test,  so  that 
only  a  small  proportion  of  the  workers  have  the  right 
to  vote.     At  the  present  time  the  suffrage  extends  only 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  37 

to  7  per  cent  of  the  population,  while  for  instance  in 
Germany  it  is  enjoyed  by  20,  and  in  France  by  27  per 
cent.  Illiteracy  disqualifies  a  large  number  of  workers 
in  the  north,  and  nearly  all  in  the  south.  Quite  natu- 
rally, therefore,  the  main  strength  of  the  party  is  in  the 
north.  In  Emilia  and  Venetia  the  organization  is  very 
strong.  Next  comes  Piedmont,  which  has  returned  as 
many  as  six  socialist  deputies  to  parliament,  Lombardy 
is  well  to  the  front,  and  in  Central  Italy  Tuscany  has 
a  strong  organization  with  a  large  membership.  But  as 
one  goes  further  south  the  movement  becomes  weaker, 
and  with  the  exception  of  times  of  social  unrest  and 
public  agitation,  it  shows  but  little  life.  This  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  south  retains  its  old  feudal  characteris- 
tics. There  are  few  industries,  and  the  peasantry  is 
among  the  most  abject  and  illiterate   in   the   world. 

The  restricted  suffrage,  excluding  from  the  ballot 
more  than  4,000,000  working  men,  prevents  one  from 
obtaining  the  true  measure  of  the  socialists'  strength. 
But  of  those  who  vote,  socialism  has  the  support  of  one 
out  of  five  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  out  of  the  1,593,000  votes 
cast  at  the  last  election  320,000  persons  voted  for  the 
candidates  of  the  sociahst  party.  The  electoral  strength 
of  the  party  has  grown  with  each  election.  In  1892  it 
gained  26,000  votes;  in  1895,  76,000;  two  years  later, 
135,000;  in  1900,  175,000;  and  in  1904,  320,000  votes. 
About  100  municipal  councils  are  in  the  control  of  the 
socialists,  and  the  group  in  parhament  numbers  25  out 
of  508  deputies.  The  socialists,  by  right  of  electoral 
strength,  ought  to  have  not  less  than  100  deputies,  but 
by  corruption  and  ballot  manipulation  on  the  part  of  the 
government  the  number  returned  was  kept  down  to  one- 
fourth  their  rightful  representation. 

208099 


38  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Unlike  other  political  movements,  the  socialist  party 
in  each  country  owns  its  press.  It  is  supported  out  of 
party  funds,  and  its  policy  is  controlled  by  the  party 
members.  The  Italians  have  five  daily  and  over  80 
weekly  papers.  Milan,  Genoa,  Mantua,  and  Reggio- 
Emilia  have  dailies.  The  party  organ,  "  Avanti,"  directed 
by  the  central  committee,  is  pubUshed  at  Rome,  and 
edited  by  Enrico  Ferri.  Although  Rome  is  not  in  the 
strongest  centre  of  the  movement,  this  joMrnal  has  a 
daily  circulation  of  over  30,000.  Altogether  the  various 
party  papers  jeach,  it  is  said,  no  less  than  240,000 
readers.  The  trade  union  journals  issued  by  the  central 
bodies,  and  by  the  stronger  professional  organizations, 
all  have  a  socialist  bias.  One  of  the  most  effective 
papers  in  Italy  is  an  illustrated  comic  and  satirical 
weekly  called  "L'Asino."  It  has  a  very  large  circula- 
tion, and  is  widely  read  among  all  classes  during  times 
of  excitement. 

But  the  propaganda  in  Italy,  like  that  in  France,  is 
not  mainly  carried  on  by  means  of  newspapers.  As  a 
rule  neither  the  French  nor  the  Italian  workmen  read  a 
great  deal.  Few  books  are  sold  directly  to  the  workers, 
and  what  is  called  scientific  socialism  rarely  reaches 
them  except  through  short  and  simply  written  leaflets 
and  tracts.  The  real  weight  of  the  propaganda  rests 
upon  the  speakers.  Probably  nowhere  else  can  be 
found  so  large  a  proportion  of  brilliant  orators  and 
propagandists  as  in  the  Italian  and  French  movements. 
The  political  campaigns  are  stirring,  and  there  are 
always  dramatic  features  which  arouse  widespread  in- 
terest. The  population  is  moved  to  a  pitch  of  excite- 
ment that  often  ends  in  violence. 

Every  occasion  is  made  use  of  to  advance  the  prop- 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  39 

aganda,  and  the  most  favorable  time  to  reach  the 
working-class  is  during  an  industrial  conflict.  No  year 
passes  in  Italy  without  sedous  strikes,  which  frequently 
end  in  riot  and  bloodshed.  It  is  no  wonder  that  vio- 
lence should  frequently  occur,  for  in  addition  to  the  ad- 
verse economic  conditions  which  drive  the  people  to  the 
extreme  of  hunger  and  misery,  the  masses  are  so  ill 
educated,  and  so  emotional  in  their  temperament,  that 
when  arouJ"  2d,  nothing  short  of  a  violent  outbreak  seems 
to  satisf}'  their  spirit  of  revolt.  In  all  the  bread  riots, 
strikes,  and  demonstrations  of  recent  years  the  police 
and  army  have  ruthlessly  and  brutally  put  down  the 
people.  In  o'ne  case  hundreds  of  the  strikers  were 
court-martialled  and  condemned  to  imprisonment.  In 
1894  Crispi,  the  Prime  Minister,  with  incredible  brutality, 
kept  2000  Sicilians  constantly  under  police  surveillance 
in  the  misery  of  "forced  domicile." 

Often  in  Italy  the  stupidity  of  the  police  provokes  riots 
which  under  a  wiser  administration  would  never  happen. 
A  writer  in  "  Le  Mouvement  Socialiste,"  describing  the 
"Massacres  of  Class  in  Italy,"  gives  an  illustration 
of  the  manner  in  which  these  tragedies  sometimes 
occur.  It  often  happens  that  a  labor  exchange  organ- 
izes a  fete  of  agricultural  laborers,  which  may  also  offer 
the  occasion  for  a  collective  protest  against  those  held 
responsible  for  an  odious  and  heavy  local  tax.  The 
crowd  peacefully  promenade  the  streets,  and  then  be- 
fore separating  halt  at  the  principal  square  in  order  to 
listen  to  a  few  words  of  encouragement  from  one  of  the 
comrades.  The  peasant  who  speaks  is  ill  educated,  and, 
in  expressing  the  sentiments  which  surge  from  his  heart, 
may  in  his  ignorance  show  Httle  regard  for  the  conven- 
tions   and  exigencies  of    the  law.     The  police  officer, 


40  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

considering  the  public  order  menaced,  commands  the 
crowd  to  disperse  and  the  peasant  to  cease  his  oration. 
The  crowd  protests,  and,  instead  of  dispersing,  gathers 
round  the  orator.  This  forms  a  pretext  for  the  guardian 
of  the  law  to  order  his  men  to  fire.  At  the  first  volley 
the  crowd  flies,  terror-stricken.  Some  are  killed,  some 
are  wounded ;  and  as  for  the  "  agents  of  order,"  not  a 
single  one  has  received  a  scratch. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  a  large  part  of  the  influence 
of  sociaHsts  among  the  working-classes  of  Italy  is  due 
to  this  sort  of  stupidity  on  the  part  of  the  government. 
Perhaps  the  revolutionary  tradition  has  made  the  upper 
classes  fear  the  masses ;  perhaps  it  is  that  they  do  not 
understand  the  workers,  and  that  after  brutalizing  them 
by  oppression  and  the  refusal  of  adequate  education, 
the  gulf  between  the  classes  has  been  so  widened  that 
hatred,  suspicion,  and  fear  are  the  only  sentiments  that 
can  exist  between  them.  In  any  case  sociahsm  has 
taken  hold  of  the  Italian  masses  in  a  way  that  cannot 
be  paralleled  in  many  other  countries.  If  socialism 
among  the  working-classes  in  Italy  does  not  always  rep- 
resent a  conscious,  thoughtful,  and  determined  move- 
ment for  the  attainment  of  a  definite  end,  it  at  any  rate 
represents  a  spirit  of  revolt  which  is  in  some  respects 
infinitely  more  dangerous  to  the  whole  capitalist  regime. 

In  considering  the  Itahan  movement  one  must  always 
bear  in  mind  the  history  and  tradition  of  Italy.  It  has 
ever  been  a  land  of  conspiracy,  revolution,  and  guerilla 
warfare.  "The  psychology  of  Italy,"  an  Italian  has 
said,  "  permits  a  vehement  tendency  to  murder.  This 
form  of  crime  is  only  rarely  disclaimed  by  the  national 
morale ;  it  is  often  glorified;  and  many  of  our  moralists 
admit  that  the  assassination  of  a  compatriot  sometimes 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  4I 

resolves  itself  into  a  duty  to  the  community."  The  his- 
tory of  all  its  political  struggles,  of  all  its  uprisings 
against  oppression,  shows  a  tendency  to  run  to  extreme 
violence,  even  under  the  guidance  of  humanitarians 
such  as  Mazzini,  Garibaldi,  or  the  present-day  sociahst 
leaders.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
Italians  were  among  the  first  in  Europe  to  accept  the 
anarchist  views  of  Bakounine.  His  doctrines  appealed 
to  the  Itahan  mind  as  they  appealed  to  the  Russian 
mind,  because  the  hatred  of  existing  institutions  was  so 
great  that  anything  short  of  pan-destruction  seemed 
merely  toying  with  the  misery  of  the  people.  In  the  old 
International,  the  Italian  section  represented  strongly 
the  anarchist  tendency,  and  until  as  late  as  1882  the 
anarchists  played  a  more  important  role  than  the  so- 
cialists in  the  working  men's  movements  of  Italy. 

In  the  year  1882  a  new  weapon  was  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  Italian  working-class  by  the  extension  of 
the  electoral  franchise.  This  act  converted  many  of  the 
leaders,  among  others  Andrea  Costa,  who  presided  over 
the  Rome  congress,  from  the*  anarchist  to  the  parlia- 
mentary method.  In  1885  another  of  the  many  fruit- 
less attempts  to  organize  the  Italian  workmen  took 
place  and  a  working  men's  party  was  founded  in  Milan 
with  over  40,000  members.  The  organization  had  not 
yet  learned  the  use  of  the  ballot,  and  it  did  little  more 
than  encourage  violence.  Anarchist  leadership  again 
destroyed  the  movement,  and  in  1886  the  party  was  dis- 
solved by  prefectoral  decree. 

Five  years  later  Signor  Turati  founded  a  weekly  re- 
view, called  the  "  Critica  Sociale."  He  was  a  wealthy 
lawyer,  a  thoroughgoing  Marxian,  a  brilliant  thinker, 
with  scholarly  training.     He  soon  exercised  an  enormous 


42  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

influence  throughout  the  north  of  Italy.  His  review  was 
far  over  the  heads  of  the  working  men,  but  his  influence 
among  university  men,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  the  intel- 
lectual class  generally  was  so  great  that  within  a  few 
years  many  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the  young  men 
openly  supported  the  sociaHst  cause.  In  the  same  year 
a  conference  was  held  at  Milan,  and  a  new  laborers' 
party  was  organized.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  working-class  movement  anarchists  were  excluded. 
The  party  adopted  a  program,  and  adhered  definitely  to 
the  political  method.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
present-day  movement.  It  is  evident  that  it  did  not 
take  Italy  by  storm,  as  Turati,  in  his  report  to  the  inter- 
national congress  at  Zurich  in  1893,  stated  that  condi- 
tions favorable  to  socialism  had  but  lately  developed  in 
Italy,  and  although  there  was  hope  for  its  future,  at  pres- 
ent it  was  somewhat  meagre  and  wanting  in  vitality.  In 
fact  he  thought  that  for  all  practical  purposes  it  might 
be  said  to  be  non-existent. 

However,  from  this  period  on  everything  favored 
the  rapid  growth  of  socialism.  The  adoption  of  a  legal 
and  definitely  political  method  put  the  governing  author- 
ities at  a  disadvantage  in  deaUng  with  the  new  move- 
ment. Their  fear,  however,  of  the  labor  party  was  not 
less  great.  Under  Crispi,  the  movement  felt  in  all  its 
branches  the  effect  of  his  policy  of  repression  and  reac- 
tion. He  charged  socialism  "with  raising  the  right  of 
spohation  to  a  science,"  and  he  accused  it  of  plotting  to 
surrender  Sicily  to  France.  His  fear  of  the  movement 
became  a  mania,  and  he  undid  himself  in  his  wild  frenzy 
to  destroy  it.  His  brutal  oppression,  his  use  of  police 
and  soldiery,  his  imprisoning  of  the  repubhcans  and 
radicals  as  well  as  sociaHsts,  brought  all  the  advanced 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  43 

parties  together ;  and,  laying  aside  differences,  electoral 
agreements  were  finally  consummated. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  disinterested  and 
patriotic  Italians  were,  in  the  nineties,  ready  to  wel- 
come a  new  party.  The  old  political  parties  were  in 
decay,  eaten  through  with  corruption.  The  idealism 
which  had  brought  them  into  existence  was  dead.  The 
political  history  of  the  period  shows  that  instead  of 
moral  enthusiasm,  there  was  widespread  intrigue.  Cor- 
ruption was  on  a  par  with  our  own.  Political  jobbery 
was  universal  — much  as  it  is  in  New  York  or  Chicago. 
The  old  parties,  and  nearly  all  of  the  old  leaders,  were 
involved.  There  were  bank  scandals  like  our  insurance 
scandals ;  there  were  franchise  thieves  and  bribers  of 
legislatures.  The  Mafia  and  Comorra  were  political 
machines  similar  in  some  respects  to  Tammany  Hall, 
in  others  to  Monk  Eastman's  gang.  The  police  oflficials 
were  in  league  with  criminals,  and  all  that  was  vicious 
in  Italian  life  was  dominant.  The  thieves  at  the  top 
were  prosperous  and  arrogant — the  masses  underneath 
misgoverned,  oppressed,  and  starving.  When  their 
misery  became  unbearable,  and  they  quarrelled  with 
their  employers,  they  were  shot  down  as  our  workers 
are  in  Colorado. 

In  the  midst  of  such  conditions  the  people  looked  to 
the  socialists.  Their  leadership  was  disinterested  and 
capable,  their  principles  high  and  aims  lofty  ;  and  it  was 
not  unnatural  that  they  should  attract  that  idealism 
so  characteristic  of  the  Italian  people.  Bolton  King 
and  Thomas  Okey  say  in  their  interesting  volume  on 
"  Italy  To-day "  :  "  Alone  among  Italian  parties  the 
sociaHst  movement  stood  boldly  for  purity  of  public  life, 
and  while  well-meaning  men  of  Right  and  Left  touched 


44  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

corruption  with  a  trembling  hand,  the  socialists  smote 
and  spared  not.  To  the  best  and  most  thoughtful  of 
the  educated  middle  classes  it  appealed  through  its  high 
idealism,  its  call  to  intellect,  its  protest  against  the  bar- 
renness of  public  life,  its  splendid  campaign  against 
evil  in  high  places." 

From  this  time  on  the  socialist  movement,  through 
its  representatives  in  the  chamber,  exercised  an  almost 
dominant  influence  in  Italian  political  life.  It  began 
with  a  program  of  economic  and  social  reforms,  and 
while  it  has  never  ceased  to  draw  the  attention  of  all 
Italy  to  evil  economic  conditions,  it  has  been  forced  to 
occupy  itself  mainly  with  purely  political  questions. 
The  time  was  ripe  for  reform  ;  party  machines  had  to  be 
overturned;  corruption  both  in  private  business  and 
public  life  had  to  be  exposed ;  and  it  was  but  natural 
that  the  socialist  party  should  throw  itself  with  fervor 
into  the  reform  movement.  In  their  struggle  against 
corruption,  the  leaders  have  come  to  occupy  a  position 
similar  to  that  of  a  middle-class  opposition  party ;  and 
their  alliances  with  the  advanced  elements  of  the  bour- 
geois have  served  to  obliterate  the  class  lines  which  are 
really  the  basis  of  the  party's  program  and  the  reason 
for  its  existence.  In  its  engaging  work  of  political  re- 
form the  socialist  party  has  to  a  certain  extent  overlooked 
its  fundamental  purpose. 

During  this  period  economic  discontent  grew  apace. 
Italy  is  the  land  of  strikes  and  the  home  of  misery. 
Industrial  conditions  are  intolerable,  and  the  people 
suffer.  The  masses  are  in  favor  of  political  reform, 
but  hunger  is  always  there ;  and  if  the  political  party 
and  parliamentary  method  will  not  bring  economic  re- 
form, they  will   abandon  it  for  the  old  revolutionary 


THE  ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  45 

methods  of  the  sixties  and  seventies.  In  the  last  few 
years  the  new  revolutionary  weapon,  the  General  Strike, 
has  been  resorted  to  again  and  again.  In  1904  the 
workers  were  stirred  to  intense  indignation  by  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  striking  miners  at  Buggeru,  and  at  a  great 
and  solemn  meeting  at  Milan  they  declared  for  the  gen- 
eral strike.  The  central  committee,  realizing  the  neces- 
sity for  preparation,  asked  for  a  postponement,  and 
invited  the  workers  to  hold  themselves  ready  in  case  of 
another  massacre.  This  was  not  long  in  coming.  At 
Castelluzzi,  in  Sicily,  a  troop  of  carbineers  broke  into  a 
meeting  of  the  peasants'  league,  and  tried  to  seize  the 
papers  and  arrest  the  secretary.  The  members  protested 
energetically,  and  the  soldiers  opened  fire.  On  receipt 
of  the  news  of  this  outrage  the  central  committee  gave 
the  order  for  the  general  strike.  The  solidarity  of  the 
working-class  was  perfect,  and  in  900  communes,  in- 
cluding all  the  large  cities,  industry  was  at  a  standstill. 
Although  the  strike  lasted  but  two  or  three  days,  it 
struck  terror  to  the  heart  of  the  bourgeois. 

At  some  demonstrations  provoked  by  the  insupport- 
able misery  of  the  people,  massacres  again  took  place 
in  the  early  part  of  1906,  and  the  socialist  deputies  de- 
manded a  government  inquiry  with  a  view  to  fixing  the 
responsibility  and  punishing  those  responsible.  The 
labor  chambers  were  asked  by  referendum  to  proclaim 
another  general  strike,  but  there  was  only  a  minority  in 
favor,  and  the  central  secretaries  resigned.  However, 
several  days  later  a  strike  at  Turin  resulting  in  blood- 
shed aroused  universal  indignation.  The  socialists  re- 
newed their  demand  in  parliament,  and  the  government 
refusing,  they  resigned  and  appealed  to  the  country. 
At  the  same  time  at  Bologna,  Milan,  Ferrara,  Ancona, 


46  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

Livorno,  and  afterward  at  Rome,  the  general  strike 
was  proclaimed.  The  bourgeois,  less  frightened  than 
in  1904,  attempted  to  retaliate  with  an  absurd  voluntary 
police  force.  The  strike,  however,  was  not  so  effectual, 
and  ceased  everywhere  in  three  days,  leaving  among 
the  bourgeois  a  profound  rancor  against  the  prole- 
tariat. Many  of  the  well-to-do  left  the  socialist  party, 
and  the  leaders,  who  had  for  some  time  been  at  odds, 
began  to  quarrel  among  themselves  more  intemperately 
than  ever.  Labriola,  the  leader  of  the  syndicats, 
accused  the  party  of  being  dominated  by  middle-class 
elements,  and  voiced  his  despair  of  the  parliamentary 
method.  Turati  condemned  the  violence  of  the  strikers, 
and  spoke  of  their  leaders  as  anarchists.  Ferri  took  a 
middle  ground  and  strove  wdth  might  and  main  to  re- 
establish harmony. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  take  sides  in  this  great  battle  of 
tendencies  and  personalities,  and  without  doing  so  it  is 
nevertheless  fair  to  say  that  Labriola's  criticisms  have 
some  justification ;  for  while  it  is  unquestionably  true 
that  men  of  the  exploiting  and  professional  classes  can 
be  convinced  of  the  necessity  for  socialism,  they  can 
only  most  rarely  appreciate  the  proletarian  feeling  or 
unreservedly  sympathize  with  its  inevitable  and  irresist- 
ible revolt.  In  other  words,  they  are  likely  to  be  un- 
consciously philosophic  about  its  progress  and  willing  to 
wait  the  working  out  of  a  long  evolutionary  process. 
This  at  any  rate  seems  to  be  true  of  Italy,  and  their 
effort  to  throw  on  others  the  entire  responsibility  for 
the  strikes  shows  that  however  good  socialists  they  may 
be  they  are  extremely  sensitive  when  accused  of  vio- 
lence. But  whether  or  not  the  movement  in  Italy  is  to 
continue  indefinitely  to  be  led  by  professionals  and  in- 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  47 

tellectuals,  it  is  certain  that  for  some  time  the  workers 
have  been  chafing  under  the  serene  parliamentary 
methods  of  their  middle-class  leaders. 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  state  of  unrest,  the  con- 
gress at  Rome  was  held.  I  was  not  surprised  that  it 
proved  a  battling  of  personahties,  even  more  than  a 
battling  of  ideas.  To  be  sure,  each  of  the  three  "  great 
men  "  represented  a  certain  tendency,  but  hero-worship 
and  personal  admiration  swayed  the  judgments  of  the 
congressists  almost  as  much  as  the  tendencies  to  which 
they  adhered.  At  any  rate  it  seemed  to  me  a  fair  infer- 
ence, if  not  quite  just,  when  an  opposition  paper  desig- 
nated the  tendencies  of  the  party  as  Turatist,  Ferrist, 
and  Labriohst.  But  this  criticism  is  not  the  whole 
truth,  as  unquestionably  Turati  and  Labriola,  in  their 
widely  separated  doctrines  and  tactics,  and  Ferri,  in 
his  eclecticism,  typify  the  various  tendencies  which 
exist  in  the  Italian  movement. 

Turati  and  his  followers  are  reformists.  Without 
agreeing  to  all  their  enemies  have  to  say  about  them,  it 
must  be  granted  that  they  are  frankly  and  openly  pure 
opportunists,  working  hand  in  hand  with  the  advanced 
Radicals  and  Republicans.  I  think  they  are  fearful  of 
the  proletarian  feeling.  Their  main  effort  is  directed 
toward  obtaining  certain  political  reforms,  and  a  grad- 
ual amelioration  in  the  condition  of  the  masses.  Turati 
honestly  and  bravely  stated  the  difference  between  his 
faction  and  that  of  the  Syndicalists.  "  The  conflict  is 
not  only  a  question  of  etiquette,  it  is  at  the  same  time  in 
ideas,  in  sentiments,  in  action.  Between  the  bourgeois 
parties  there  is  not  a  hostility  so  great  or  so  violent  as 
that  which  separates  us  from  the  Syndicalists,  in  spite 
of  the  soft  lie  of  sweet  fraternity  in  our  party."     This  is 


48  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

certainly  meant  to  be  unequivocal,  and  it  is.  Turati 
thinks  the  Syndicalists  are  anarchists,  at  least  in  ten- 
dency, and  he  expresses  himself  with  his  admirable  and 
characteristic  frankness.  He  is  absolutely  honest  and 
sincere,  so  that  even  those  who  differ  from  him  strongly 
in  opinion  are  forced  to  admire  him.  He  is  the  ablest 
man  among  the  members  of  the  party  because  he  has 
the  clearest  and  most  logical  mind.  He  is  a  keen  and 
powerful  debater,  never  leaving  the  field  of  pure  and 
careful  reasoning.  He  apparently  has  no  desire  to 
sway  the  emotions,  and  his  ability  in  critical  and  logical 
debate  is,  although  used  for  a  different  tactic,  similar  in 
quality  to  that  of  Bebel  in  Germany,  or  Jules  Guesde 
in  France.  Turati  is  an  incorrigible  reformist  —  in 
other  words,  a  logical  reformist,  and  arguing  from  that 
basis  he  is  clear,  consistent,  and  courageous.  His  oppo- 
nents think  he  should  leave  the  party  or  be  expelled,  as 
his  views  are  those  of  John  Burns  and  of  Millerand. 
At  least  from  the  socialist  point  of  view,  one  must  so 
consider  them ;  and  if  the  socialist  party  were  as  un- 
compromising and  the  working-class  as  self-reliant  in 
Italy  as  it  is  in  France,  or  even  in  England,  Turati 
would  be  faced  with  the  same  situation  that  confronts, 
in  these  countries,  men  of  similar  views. 

Ferri  is  almost  an  exact  counterpart  of  Turati.  He  is 
an  emotional  and  powerful  orator  of  the  ordinary  type. 
He  is  a  man  of  good  phrases,  of  epigrams,  and  generali- 
ties. He  is  eclectical,  and  a  harmonizer,  often  regardless 
of  violent  contradictions.  He  considers  that  socialist 
parties  must  everywhere  have  their  advanced  revolu- 
tionary tendencies,  as  expressed  by  the  Syndicahsts,  and 
their  slow-moving,  timid,  and  compromising  tendencies, 
as  expressed  by  the  Reformists.     In  other  words,  the 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  49 

party  must  always  have,  in  parliamentary  phraseology, 
a  left  wing  and  a  right.  It  is  the  role  of  the  Integralists 
to  sit  in  the  centre,  and  to  harmonize  the  two  extremes. 
Any  one  can  see  what  a  difficult  position  this  is  to  fill, 
and  Ferri  is  attacked  by  both  extremes  for  holding  this 
middle  ground,  and  for  his  unwiUingness  to  support 
either  the  logic  of  the  Syndicalists,  or  that  of  the  Re- 
formists. Labriola  thinks  integralism  only  a  veil  for 
those  who  are  secretly  Reformists,  while  Turati  is  im- 
patient with  it  for  not  supporting  the  reformist  position, 
and  thus  enabling  his  section  to  adopt  a  consistent  re- 
form program  upon  which  to  stand  before  the  country, 
and  upon  which  the  party  could  fight  unitedly  in  parlia- 
ment. 

Opposed  to  both  the  Reformists  and  the  Integralists 
are  the  Syndicalists.  What  their  exact  opinions  are,  it 
was  impossible  to  gather  from  the  congressional  pro- 
ceedings. They  had  few  representatives,  and  I  must 
think  that  the  views  Labriola  gave  as  those  of  his  fac- 
tion were  only  his  own  served  up  as  syndicalism.  With 
a  brilliancy  not  exceeded,  with  a  handling  of  facts  and 
theories  that  was  truly  remarkable,  and  with  fearlessness 
and  power,  this  very  extraordinary  young  man  presented 
his  case.  It  created  a  tremendous  sensation,  and  as  it  was 
he  who  forced  the  fighting  during  the  entire  congress,  it 
is  only  just  that  I  should  speak  at  greater  length  of  his 
personality  and  views ;  although  I  am  bound  to  think 
that  the  enthusiasm  which  he  invoked  was  not  so  much 
because  of  his  thought  as  because  of  the  revolutionary 
spirit,  and  the  superb  feehng  that  characterized  his 
address. 

It  may  be  that  Arturo  La.briola,  if  he  did  not  express 
the  workmen's  thought,  fairly  well  expressed  their  revo- 


50  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

lutionary  feeling,  in  that  he  seems  to  be  going  through 
a  crisis  of  thought  which  may  lead  him,  as  it  may 
lead  them,  to  anarchism.  But  whether  considered  as 
a  socialist  or  as  an  anarchist,  Labriola  cannot  be  ex- 
plained. At  present  he  is  illogical  and  contradictory 
both  in  his  thought  and  in  his  activity.  But  with  all  that 
to  be  said  against  him,  he  has  rare  personal  magnetism. 
I  sat  for  three  hours  listening  to  him,  and  I  may  say  that, 
with  few  if  any  of  the  ordinary  gifts  of  the  orator,  he  is 
the  most  thrilling  speaker  I  have  ever  heard.  At  times 
his  discourse  was  like  organ  music,  rising  and  falling 
with  a  peculiar  harmony.  His  climax  was  not  a  usual 
one ;  it  was  climax  upon  climax  until  at  last  one  seemed 
to  burst  in  profusion,  like  a  giant  sky-rocket.  And  then 
at  times  his  oratory  was  disjointed  and  discordant.  It 
made  one  think  of  Browning's  line,  "Why  rushed  the 
discords  in  but  that  harmony  should  be  prized.-'"  It  was 
a  most  remarkable  speech  —  apparently  the  sincere  and 
frank  expression  of  his  own  soul.  He  kept  nothing 
back.  He  was  illogical  but  conscientious,  and  he  seemed 
not  to  realize  that  his  own  individual  crisis  in  thought 
was  hardly  to  be  presented  as  syndicalism. 

The  battle  between  the  tendencies  was  not  to  Labriola, 
but  he  won  a  personal  triumph  that  was  immense.  The 
various  factions  had  again  and  again  interrupted  him 
during  his  address.  At  times  it  looked  as  if  there  might 
be  a  riot,  and  several  times  during  his  discourse,  the 
chairman  could  not  maintain  order  for  many  minutes 
together;  but  at  the  end  of  his  address,  and  after  a 
superb  peroration,  the  entire  audience  rose  to  its  feet 
and  applauded  with  all  its  power,  while  those  near  the 
platform  ran  forward  to  embrace  and  kiss  him. 

I  can  only  briefly  sum  up  his  views.     He  spoke  in 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  5  I 

favor  of  a  vigorous  campaign  of  propaganda  against 
clericalism,  against  the  monarchy,  and  against  the  mili- 
tary. He  spoke  disparagingly  of  parliamentary  methods, 
and  confessed  his  reUance  upon  the  economic  organiza- 
tion of  the  workers  for  the  important  changes  that  were 
to  come.  He  criticised  the  leadership  of  the  party  as 
being  middle  class,  and  as  forgetting  its  reason  for 
being,  and  its  direct  responsibility  to  the  working-class. 
He  said  Intellectiialism  ought  not  to  be  parasitic.  It 
ought  to  be  put  at  the  service  of  socialism.  It  ought  to 
illuminate  the  way  in  advance  of  the  socialist  cause.  He 
thought  it  unimportant  whether  or  not  the  laborer 
were  forced  to  work  an  hour  or  so  more  in  the  day.  "  Let 
him  work,"  he  shouted ;  "  society  will  enrich  itself  there- 
by, and  we  will  find  a  far  greater  harvest  when  the  day 
of  our  victory  and  ascension  shall  come."  He  said  it 
was  folly  to  hope  for  the  transformation  of  society  by 
parliamentary  action  alone,  and  that  "  the  emancipation 
of  the  workers  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  workers 
themselves,  and  not  by  their  proxies,  by  some  persons 
interposed."  The  nationalization  of  pubhc  utilities  was 
to  him  unimportant  because  the  state  exploited  the 
workers  quite  as  mercilessly  as  private  capitaHsts.  So- 
cialism of  the  state  was  only  another  word  for  capitalism 
of  the  state. 

After  disposing  of  the  various  methods  advocated  by 
socialists  of  whatever  view  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  proletariat,  he  asked:  "What  then  remains,  what  is 
there  essential  and  truly  revolutionary  in  socialism,  if  it  is 
not  the  free  effort  of  the  working-class,  the  economic  or- 
ganization of  the  proletariat  upon  the  field  of  the  class 
struggle,  the  grouping  of  the  workers  in  their  trades, 
federated  among  themselves  for  their  common  interests 


52  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

and  preparing  themselves  to  take  one  day  into  their  own 
hands  the  direction  of  social  work.  .  .  .  In  order  to  arrive 
at  this  result  political  action  can  only  play  a  secondary 
role  ;  it  is  the  general  strike  which  is  the  decisive  weapon, 
the  supreme  means  of  emancipating  the  working-class." 
This  is  the  view  of  a  new  school  rising  in  Europe. 
Sorel  and  Lagardelle  in  France,  and  Leone  and  Labriola 
in  Italy,  are  doing  a  very  useful  work  in  forcing  the 
purely  parliamentary  sociahsts  to  recognize  more  than 
they  otherwise  would  the  value  and  indeed  the  necessity 
of  strong  organization  among  the  working-classes  on  the 
economic  field ;  but  the  socialists  of  the  United  States, 
and  England  especially,  know  how  absurd  it  is  to  consider 
this  the  sole  means  necessary  by  which  to  combat  capital- 
ism. It  is  common  knowledge  with  us  that  the  union 
movement  is  revolutionary  and  often  violent  in  the  early 
stages  of  its  development.  Wherever  the  organizations 
are  weak,  they  are  the  most  combative.  As  they  grow 
more  experienced  and  develop  strength,  they  become 
more  careful  about  risking  defeat  by  hastily  considered 
or  ill-advised  action.  The  trade  union  movement  in 
Italy  is  still  in  its  early  stages,  and  while  the  members 
are  mostly  socialists,  the  leaders  may  become,  as  many 
of  our  trade  union  socialists  of  the  seventies  and  eighties 
became,  extremely  careful  not  to  endanger  the  funds  and 
standing  of  their  economic  organizations.  The  English 
and  American  unionists,  after  a  long  period  of  syndical- 
ism, are  now  beginning  to  realize  that  they  have  left  un- 
developed and  unused  one  of  their  most  effective  weapons 
of  defence  and  of  aggression ;  namely,  their  political 
power.  It  will  therefore  be  a  cause  for  profound  regret 
if  the  Italians  discard  this  method  of  emancipating  the 
working-class  upon  the  assumption  that  they  can  gain 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  53 

more  by  the  development  and  use  of  their  economic  or- 
ganizations. Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  method  alone 
suffices  for  this  tremendous  task.  What  is  needed  is  a 
more  comprehensive  organization  of  the  workers,  both 
in  the  trade  unions  and  in  the  branches  of  the  party. 
To  change  from  the  parHamentary  to  the  syndicalist 
method,  or  vice  versa,  can  have  but  little  effect,  except 
to  cripple  the  working-class  in  the  midst  of  a  difficult  war. 

The  whole  congress  was  occupied  in  this  struggle  be- 
tween the  three  factions.  In  the  voting  Labriola  was  badly 
defeated  by  a  union  of  the  Reformists  and  the  IntegraHsts. 
The  movement  goes  on  united,  if  unity  is  possible  where 
there  is  so  much  ill-feeling  between  the  factions.  How 
much  it  is  a  mere  unity  of  form,  without  a  unity  of  spirit, 
one  cannot  say.  Certainly  the  divisions  between  the 
factions  seem  very  deep  and  forbidding.  They  make 
one  feel  grateful  that  one  is  not  an  Italian  socialist. 
One  would  not  know  what  to  do  or  whom  to  support. 
This  must  be  a  very  common  feeling  among  the  Italians, 
with  the  effect  that  their  work  must  be,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, weak,  uncertain,  and  halting,  all  of  which  is  espe- 
cially deplorable  for  Italy.  The  working-classes  there, 
perhaps  more  than  anywhere  else  in  Europe,  need  the 
training  and  development  that  come  from  participation 
in  organizations  of  their  own.  They  need  its  steadying 
influence,  and  the  education  it  gives  in  self-reliance. 
They  need  both  their  economic  organizations  and  their 
political  organizations,  and  anything  which  retards  the 
growing  and  strengthening  of  these  resources  of  the 
working-class  of  Italy  does  it  a  very  bad  turn. 

To  one  sitting  in  that  hall,  not  in  the  heat  of  a  fac- 
tion or  under  the  spell  of  a  personality,  the  spectacle 
was  of  a  kind  to  make  one  despair.     At  the  end  all  was 


54  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

tumult.     There  were  shouts,  congratulations,  exultations 
—  there  were  the   victors    and    the    vanquished.     The 
congress   of   the    Italian    Sociahst    Party    was    another 
thing  of  the  past  in  the  city  of  things  of  the  past.     It 
was  not  without  a  feehng  of  relief  that  one  left  the  new 
temple  to  walk  through  the  wastes  and  ruins  of  the  old. 
From  the  terrace  of  the  senatorial  palace  one  sees  the 
white,  deserted  temples  of  a  thousand  gods,  vast  wastes 
of  the  precious,  unrewarded,  and  gigantic  labor  of  the 
poor.     By  the  love  and  labor  and  hope  of  the    disinher- 
ited the  temple  of  Saturn  was  built,  and  that  of  Castor, 
and  that  of  Vesta,  and  that  of  Futura,  and  that  of  Con- 
cord.    The  arch  of    Septimius  was  their  labor,  and  so 
too  were  the  towering  arches  of  the  basilica  of  Constan- 
tine.     And  to-day  it  is  but  a  step,  as  it  was  three  thou- 
sand years  ago,  from  this  spacious,  but  now  dead  city 
into  the  narrow  alleys  of  the  living  poor.     It  was  the 
work  of   the  poor.     It  was  they  who  had  built  it  all. 
They  had  cut  its  marble  from  the  hills,  dug  the  trenches, 
laid  the  foundations.     Every  wall,  column,  arch,  they  had 
put  in  place.     The  city  of  palaces,  of  baths,  of  circuses, 
of  arches,  of  temples,  they  had  built  again  and  again. 
They  had  laid  its  pavements  and   adorned  its  streets 
with  exquisite  beauty.     They  had  built  palaces  for  their 
tyrants,    for   their   kings,   emperors,   and    senators,   for 
their  priests,  for  their  demagogues,   and   for  the   mis- 
tresses of  their  tyrants,  and  emperors,  and  priests,  and 
demagogues.     But  for  themselves  they  had  in  b.c,  and 
they  have  in  a.d.,  hovels  and  alleys. 

Is  this  new  movement  going  to  repeat  the  old,  old 
story.?  That  is  hardly  conceivable  ;  but  in  Italy,  instead 
of  union,  education,  and  organization,  the  party  brings 
to    the    proletariat  the   quarrels,   tendencies,   hair-split- 


THE   ITALIAN   SOCIALIST   PARTY  55 

tings,  and  personalities  of  a  few  middle-class  intellec- 
tuals. It  is,  I  fear,  a  party  of  Roman  patricians,  with 
the  votes  of  a  restive,  revolutionary  proletariat.  Is  this 
too  harsh  ?  Perhaps  it  is.  It  may  be  that  these  impres- 
sions of  the  Italian  socialist  movement  are  all  wrong, 
and  no  one  more  than  I  can  hope  that  they  are;  for 
Italy  needs  sociaHsm  as  much  as  any  land  under  the 
sun.  It  is  her  only  hope ;  and  I  should  think  that  any 
man  with  heart  would  be  a  socialist  in  Italy.  The  mis- 
ery is  so  great  there  that  even  the  hardest  must  be 
touched.  I  think  of  one  valley,  so  smiling,  so  beautiful, 
with  a  thousand  terraced  gardens  on  its  exquisite  slopes, 
under  skies  that  enrapture  the  soul;  and  with  men, 
women,  and  children  whose  forms  and  faces  lacerate 
the  heart.  After  one  sight  of  that  humanity,  there  are 
no  more  skies,  no  gardens,  no  valleys,  no  hills.  I  would 
rather  live  forever  in  Dante's  hell  than  there  among  my 
wretched  human  brothers.  Great  God,  is  not  the  Val- 
ley of  Tirano  all  the  school  Italy  needs  for  socialism } 
Are  not  the  streets  and  alleys  about  the  temple,  living, 
and  about  the  Coliseum,  dead,  all  that  is  needed  for  prop- 
aganda .''  The  faces  one  sees  there  are  the  faces  with 
big  eyes  and  sunken  cheeks.  They  are  faces  that,  once 
seen,  can  never  be  forgotten.  They  are  with  you  when 
you  eat,  and  your  food  sickens  you.  They  are  with 
you  when  you  dress,  and  your  clothes  become  hateful  to 
you.  They  are  with  you  when  you  try  to  sleep,  and  the 
night  haunts  you. 

It  may  be  that  some  men  in  Italy  can  close  their 
hearts  to  these  faces  and  eyes.  It  may  be  that  some 
men  must  do  what  St.  Francis  did  — give  all,  absolutely 
all.  But  is  it  possible  that  any  one  with  compassion 
can  know  and  see  and  feel,  and  not  be  a  revolutionist  ? 


CHAPTER   III 

THE    FRENCH    SOCIALIST    PARTY 

The  German  congress  was  an  impressive  gathering 
of  intelligent  and  wide-awake  men.  The  Italian  con- 
gress was  full  of  excitement  and  pyrotechnics.  The 
French  congress,  held  at  Limoges,  in  the  heart  of  the 
great  potteries,  was  impressive,  interesting,  and  also 
not  without  its  fireworks.  The  delegates  thought  with 
a  thoroughness  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  Germans, 
and  debated  with  a  vivacity  and  charm  not  exceeded 
by  the  Italians.  They  were  men  from  the  workshops, 
men  from  the  study,  men  from  the  "sanctums"  of  the 
great  journals ;  and  there  were  there  men  of  inter- 
national reputation  in  science,  economics,  and  poHtics. 
The  congress  was  therefore  not  so  exclusively  working- 
class  as  the  German,  nor  so  middle-class  as  the  Italian. 
Those  who  were  Intellectuals  took  their  inspiration  from 
the  people,  and  those  who  had  come  from  the  work- 
shops were  as  capable  as  the  Intellectuals  of  thought 
and  of  leadership. 

The  movement  in  France  is  superb.  It  has  all  the 
necessary  qualities  and  elements  of  a  great  party.  If 
it  has  its  opportunists,  it  has  also  its  impossibilists.  If 
it  has  its  cautious  ones,  it  has  also  its  impetuous  ones. 
If  it  has  its  pure  theorists,  it  has  also  its  thorough 
practicians.  And  the  balance  is  admirable.  But  it 
is  not  the   balance   which  comes  from  the  dominance 

56 


THE   FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  5/ 

of  one  powerful  mind.  Criticism  runs  high ;  each 
tendency  is  represented  by  some  mind  and  voice  of  a 
high  order.  And  a  tactic  or  a  policy  which  runs  the 
gantlet  of  the  keen  intelligence  of  men  with  such 
different  points  of  view  is  pretty  certain  to  be  sound. 
For  the  first  time  I  have  seen  some  good  resulting 
from  divisions  among  socialists.  The  French  socialists 
are  to-day  united,  but  for  thirty  or  more  years  they 
have  been  separated  into  various  groups,  sometimes 
attacking  each  other,  often  competing  with  each  other, 
and  at  times  mahgning  each  other.  Again  and  again 
they  have  achieved  a  sort  of  unity,  only  to  break  again 
into  bitterly  antagonistic  groups.  Schism  after  schism 
occurred,  and  the  weary  years  of  propaganda  dragged 
on,  without  that  unity  of  the  proletariat  which  was  the 
watchword  and  fundamental  doctrine  of  all  their  teach- 
ing. There  was  a  bad  side  to  these  divisions  which  no 
one  could  wish  to  minimize,  but  at  least  they  had  one 
good  result.  Great  men  were  produced,  —  skilful  de- 
baters, indefatigable  propagandists,  powerful  polemical 
writers.  And  now  that  unity  has  come,  and  all  the 
men  of  the  old  groups  are  fighting  together  for  the 
common  end,  the  French  party  has  in  its  fold  a  re- 
markable number  of  brilliant  and  capable  men.  Each 
of  the  four  or  five  old  factions  has  contributed  its  quota 
of  extraordinary  men.  Some  of  the  groups  had  drawn 
to  themselves  the  ablest  minds  from  among  the  workers  ; 
others  had  drawn  from  the  intellectual  proletariat  men 
of  exceptional  ability ;  and  all  together  contribute  now 
to  the  united  party  the  valuable  results  of  their  labors. 
But  what  a  history  the  French  movement  has  for 
discord  and  division !  France  is  the  birthplace  of 
nearly  all  the  idealism  that  gave  rise   to   the   modern 


58  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

movement.  Ever  since  the  great  revolution,  the  phi 
losophy  of  socialism  has  fascinated  some  of  the  most 
brilliant  minds  in  France ;  but  the  fulness  of  their  in- 
spiration and  the  variation  in  their  tendencies  have 
prevented  them  from  establishing  one  school.  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  among  a  people  so  enamoured 
of  ideas  and  ideals,  in  a  country  where  men  register 
their  convictions  in  blood,  in  a  nation  that  has  a  revo- 
lutionary tradition  of  which  every  child  is  proud,  it 
has  been  only  through  infinite  toil  and  anguish  that 
coherence  in  organization  and  doctrine  has  been  brought 
into  being. 

In  France  socialism  often  means  revolution,  and 
the  most  widely  varying  doctrines,  from  extreme  an- 
archism to  extreme  statism,  are  frequently  embraced 
within  its  scope.  Before  the  insurrection  of  1871  the 
old  International  exercised  a  powerful  influence  in 
France,  and  included  within  its  organization  nearly 
every  phase  of  socialist  thought  and  revolutionary 
action.  The  Proudhonian  anarchists,  with  their  program 
of  decentralization,  anti-parliamentary  action,  and  the 
abolition  of  all  forms  of  government,  together  with  a 
belief  in  the  efficacy  of  cooperation  and  mutual  aid  among 
the  workers  to  achieve  the  complete  emancipation  of 
the  proletariat ;  the  Blanquists,  with  their  conspiratory 
methods  of  taking  the  state  by  surprise  and  wresting 
it  from  the  hands  of  the  capitaHsts ;  and  a  small  group 
of  Marxists,  who  believed  in  definitely  organized  po- 
litical action  by  the  working-class  ;  were  all  carrying 
on  a  feverish  agitation,  which  consisted  almost  as  much 
of  internal  warfare  as  it  did  of  active  efforts  against 
capitalism.  For  a  period  of  over  ten  years  these  va- 
rious factions  carried  on  their  strife.     They  had  only 


THE   FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  59 

one  thing  in  common,  and  in  that  they  were  also  in 
agreement  with  the  republicans  of  that  period  —  they 
were  all  against  the  empire.  As  the  social  unrest 
developed,  and  the  masses  became  more  and  more 
agitated  and  revolutionary,  one  of  those  periods  of  ex- 
plosive energy  and  violence  arrived  to  give  an  outlet 
to  the  growing  class  antagonism,  and  in  1871  a  terrible 
struggle  between  the  capitalists  and  the  workers  broke 
forth  in  all  its  fury.  For  a  moment  the  workers  were 
victorious;  then  came  defeat,  followed  by  wholesale 
massacres. 

At  almost  the  same  time  the  International,  torn  by 
dissensions  after  a  vain  attempt  to  harbor  all  revolu- 
tionary elements,  was  abolished  by  Marx.  Its  warring 
factions  were  broken  and  dispersed  and  their  revolu- 
tionary force  spent  in  the  upheavals  of  Paris  and 
Spain.  With  the  crushing  of  the  Commune  nearly  all 
the  leaders  were  forced  to  leave  France,  and  every 
vestige  of  their  organizations  was  shattered.  Blanqui, 
that  inveterate  revolutionist,  was  again  in  prison,  Vail- 
lant  and  many  of  his  friends  were  in  exile  in  London, 
and  the  anarchist  leaders  in  Switzerland.  The  work- 
ers were  left  without  leadership,  and  the  brutal  methods 
by  which  the  government  had  put  down  their  uprising 
left  them  broken  and  cowed. 

But  the  irresistible  impulse  of  working  men  to  or- 
ganize did  not  long  remain  quiescent.  As  early  as 
1872,  a  few  workers  came  together  for  concerted  action. 
They  disclaimed  all  revolutionary  views ;  nevertheless, 
the  government  dispersed  them.  Again,  three  years 
later,  in  Paris,  the  representatives  of  various  groups 
came  together  to  establish  a  working  men's  movement. 
They  all  agreed  that  it  should  be  exclusively  working- 


60  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

class,  and  that  politicians,  theoreticians,  and  revolu- 
tionists should  not  be  admitted.  They  expressed 
themselves  in  favor  of  trade  union  action,  and  the 
development  of  cooperatives.  They  wished  solely, 
they  declared,  to  modify  the  present  state  of  society 
in  a  way  more  equitable  for  the  workers  ;  and  they 
avoided  with  care  all  revolutionary  and  socialist  utter- 
ances. The  revolutionists  in  exile  read  with  amazement 
the  declaration  of  the  congress,  and  issued  manifestoes 
condemning  the  conservatism  of  the  workers.  To  all 
appearances  the  proletariat  had  abandoned  all  radical 
views,  and  the  moderates  and  the  republicans,  who 
were  leading  the  movement,  intended  to  prevent  the 
revolutionists  from  gaining  control  of  it  again. 

At  this  time  there  appeared  in  France,  Jules  Guesde, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  personalities  in  the  socialist 
movement.  He  had  returned  from  exile  in  Switzer- 
land and  Italy.  Before  the  Commune  he  had  collabo- 
rated actively  with  some  other  revolutionary  journalists 
in  attacking  the  empire,  and  under  the  patronage  of 
several  men  who  later  were  the  leaders  in  that  insur- 
rection, he  founded  a  paper  called  "The  Rights  of 
Man."  When  Guesde  was  twenty  years  old,  he  so 
outraged  the  imperial  regime  that  he  was  condemned 
to  six  months  in  prison.  On  the  famous  fourth  of 
September,  without  knowing  what  had  happened  in 
Paris,  he  marched  with  a  small  group  of  republicans 
upon  the  prefecture  of  Montpellier  and  captured  it, 
and  then  after  the  insurrection  he  was  condemned  to 
five  years.  Instead  of  going  to  prison  he  left  France, 
and  during  his  exile  at  Geneva  he  became  an  active 
socialist,  and  assisted  there  in  creating  a  section  of  the 
International  and  in  founding  a  daily  paper.     He  then 


THE   FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  6 1 

became  a  wandering  agitator,  passing  through  all  the 
industrial  centres  of  Italy,  carrying  on  a  ceaseless 
propaganda.  By  word  and  pen  he  attacked  the  present 
order  with  bitterness  and  fearlessness.  Often  hungry, 
in  rags,  and  homeless,  he  suffered  privations  which 
would  have  killed  any  man  without  his  indomitable 
will-power.  Threatened  for  a  time  with  tuberculosis, 
he  had  to  go  to  southern  Italy,  but  as  soon  as  his  five 
years'  exile  was  over  he  returned  to  France. 

But  while  abroad  Guesde  had  been  schooled  in  the 
thought,  tactics,  and  language  of  Marxian  socialism, 
and  when  he  returned,  he  had  a  far  different  conception 
of  revolutionary  methods  than  he  had  had  when  he 
left.  The  brilliant  example  of  the  German  organization 
was  before  him,  and  he  set  out  to  capture  the  French 
working-class  movement  and  organize  it  into  a  definite 
political  party.  In  1877  he  established  "L'Egalite" 
to  sustain  his  views,  and  in  addition  to  his  own  editorial 
work  he  wrote  for  two  journals  with  a  similar  tendency. 
Along  with  some  other  Marxists  he  gave  battle  to  the 
anarchists  and  the  insurrectionists.  He  became  the  very 
genius  of  agitation,  rushing  from  one  end  of  France  to 
another  to  carry  on  his  propaganda  among  the  masses, 
and  to  convert  the  leaders  of  the  trade  union  move- 
ment to  political  action.  Guesde's  beUef  as  to  the  neces- 
sity of  a  violent  revolution  did  not  change,  but  he  began 
to  realize  more  and  more  the  futility  of  insurrection  and 
street-rioting.  From  this  time  on  he  appears  as  the 
most  striking  figure  in  French  socialism,  and  while  per- 
haps Marxian  views  have  never  appealed  so  completely 
to  the  French  as  to  some  of  the  other  nationalities,  it  is 
almost  entirely  due  to  Guesde  that  the  working-class 
movement  has  abandoned  the  old  methods  and  settled 


62  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

down  to  organized  political  action  founded  upon  a 
coherent  and  logical  doctrine. 

At  the  trade  union  congress  held  at  Lyons  early  in 
1878,  it  was  decided  to  organize  an  international  work- 
ing men's  congress  to  be  held  in  Paris  the  same  year 
upon  the  occasion  of  V Exposition  Ufiiverselle.  All 
plans  were  made  for  it,  but  the  police  informed  the 
unions  that  it  would  not  be  tolerated,  and  they  aban- 
doned their  project.  The  socialists,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Guesde,  decided  to  ignore  the  authorities,  and 
to  proceed  with  the  congress ;  and  the  unions  promised 
their  support.  By  this  audacious  move  Guesde  and 
his  friends  appeared  before  the  foreign  delegates  as  if 
they  were  the  leaders  of  the  entire  French  movement. 
When  the  congressists  came  to  assemble,  they  found 
the  hall  surrounded  by  police,  and  the  organizers  of  the 
illegal  assembly  were  arrested.  Guesde  presented  a 
collective  defence  before  the  court,  but  nevertheless  he 
and  his  associates  were  condemned  to  six  months  in 
prison.  However,  the  defence,  which  was  in  the  nature 
of  a  manifesto,  was  circulated  throughout  France,  and 
created  a  profound  sensation.  Guesde  was  soon  to  be 
in  reality  the  head  of  the  working  men's  movement. 

During  the  next  few  months  the  agitation  was  at 
fever  heat.  The  Marxists  were  fast  making  converts 
of  the  leaders,  and  already  several  important  unions 
had  declared  for  sociahsm.  In  October,  1879,  a  con- 
gress, "  ever  memorable,"  as  Guesde  afterward  said, 
was  held  at  Marseilles.  Over  the  door  of  the  hall  was 
hung  an  inscription  which  foretold  the  outcome  of  that 
historic  meeting,  "  The  land  for  the  peasant ;  the  tool 
for  the  laborer;  and  work  for  all."  The  events  of  the 
past  few  months  had  had  their  effect,  and  the  delegates, 


THE   FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  63 

caught  in  the  storm  of  enthusiasm,  were  ready  for  revolu- 
tionary action.  Even  the  moderates  seemed  to  have 
given  themselves  over  to  the  common  impulse.  The  note 
of  the  gathering  was  sounded  by  Jean  Lombard,  the 
organizing  secretary  of  the  congress,  who  urged  that  the 
new  program  ought  to  show  a  sensible  progress  over  the 
previous  ones  ;  and  he  proposed  to  change  the  name 
of  the  gathering  to  "The  Socialist  Labor  Congress." 
The  proposition  was  accepted  with  unanimity.  A 
delegate  arose  to  declare  that  unions  have  a  role  to 
play;  that  is,  to  be  a  nursery  of  revolutionary  ideas. 
Another  delegate  announced  the  failure  of  the  co- 
operative idea.  Fourniere,  in  a  passionate  address, 
said  that  as  things  were  going  there  would  be  in  ten 
years  neither  small  employers  nor  proprietors.  Two 
classes  only  would  be  face  to  face,  the  idle  rich  and 
the  poverty-stricken  workers.  In  the  midst  of  the 
general  tumult  in  the  congress  almost  every  revolution- 
ary tendency  found  expression.  One  of  the  delegates 
went  so  far  as  to  exclaim  that  the  only  propaganda 
worth  while  was  to  declare  to  the  people  that  "  in  place 
of  capturing  the  central  government  it  is  necessary 
to  bombard  and  destroy  it,"  which  showed  that  if  there 
were  socialists  in  the  assembly,  there  were  also  anar- 
chists. 

But  despite  the  strong  revolutionary  feeling,  no  one 
seemed  to  have  a  program.  It  was  a  golden  oppor- 
tunity for  the  Marxists,  for  their  thought  was  clear 
and  their  program  definite.  It  is  useless  to  analyze 
the  addresses  relative  to  the  constitution  of  a  political 
party.  The  delegates  found  themselves  in  accord,  and 
Guesde  and  Paul  Lafargue,  the  son-in-law  of  Karl 
Marx,  together  wrote  the  program  which  was  adopted. 


64  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

After  the  confusion  of  years,  from  amidst  the  many 
revolutionary  tendencies  bequeathed  to  the  French 
working  men  by  the  great  thinkers  of  the  past,  Marxian 
doctrine  and  tactics  had  captured  the  French  move- 
ment, and  placed  it  in  accord  with  the  other  pohtical 
socialist  movements  then  arising  in  all  the  neighboring 
countries. 

The  following  year  the  congress  was  held  at  Havre. 
The  republicans,  who  had  launched  the  movement  in 
Paris,  in  1875,  a  few  old  and  rich  unions  which  had  joined 
it,  and  some  cooperative  societies  which  had  supported 
it,  had  been  surprised  at  Marseilles,  when  the  socialists 
had  taken  the  congress  by  storm ;  and  they  decided  to 
attend  the  next  gathering  solidly  organized.  The  social- 
ists exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  return  to  the 
congress  as  many  delegates  as  possible,  but  when  they 
presented  themselves,  they  were  refused  admission  by 
the  moderates  ;  and  they  retired  in  a  body  to  assemble 
in  an  adjoining  hall.  There  were  only  57  delegates, 
representing  a  variety  of  tendencies,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  they  had  been  defeated.  The  moderates  appeared  to 
be  victorious,  but  they  had  no  faith,  no  doctrine,  no 
ideals,  and  despite  their  strength  they  ceased  to  exist 
after  a  subsequent  congress  a  year  later.  The  socialists 
on  the  other  hand  stood  for  what  appealed  to  the  French 
working  men,  and  after  the  Havre  congress  their  in- 
fluence became  dominant. 

Sociahsm  began  to  take  hold  in  France,  and  there 
collected  around  the  movement  Guesde  had  started 
many  brilliant  and  capable  men.  The  party  was  united. 
It  had  a  clear  and  definite  program,  and  in  all  parts  of 
France  agitation  and  organization  were  making  head- 
way.    A  number  of  journals  were  launched,  and  among 


THE   FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  65 

others  "  L'Emancipation,"  edited  jointly  by  Guesde, 
Paul  Brousse,  and  Benoit  Malon,  the  latter  a  most 
admirable  and  capable  man.  The  same  year  parliament 
voted  complete  amnesty  to  the  militants  of  the  Com- 
mune, and  returning  from  exile  they  threw  themselves 
into  various  radical  movements.  A  number  of  them 
followed  Clemenceau,  who  at  that  time  was  directing  the 
extreme  Left,  while  others  founded  a  new  socialist  or- 
ganization. J.  B.  Clement,  Jules  Joffrin,  Jean  Allemane, 
and  others,  affiliated  themselves  with  Guesde  and  Malon. 
Vaillant,  Granger,  and  others  reconstituted  a  Blanquist 
group.  All  things  seemed  to  point  to  the  rapid  success  of 
the  socialist  movement. 

The  elections  of  1881  were,  however,  an  immense 
disappointment,  and  unfortunately  served  to  arouse  new 
dissensions.  Certain  factions  of  the  party  attributed 
the  failure  to  the  Marxian  program  of  Guesde  and  his 
friends.  They  said  it  was  not  adapted  to  the  French 
spirit,  and  was  written  in  a  vocabulary  little  known. 
Besides  failing  to  take  account  of  the  traditional 
forms  of  French  thought,  it  introduced  new  ideas  which, 
it  was  said,  did  not  appeal  to  the  French  working  men. 
One  of  the  candidates  of  the  party,  Jules  Joffrin,  altered 
the  program  to  suit  himself,  and  this  lack  of  discipline 
infuriated  Guesde.  The  journal,  "  L'Emancipation,"  was 
abandoned,  after  it  had  issued  twenty-four  numbers, 
because  of  differences  between  Guesde  and  Malon. 
Paul  Brousse,  who  was  ambitious  to  lead,  and  his  friends 
undertook  to  drive  Guesde  from  the  movement.  Brousse 
in  his  youth  had  inclined  toward  anarchism,  and  had 
been  associated  with  Bakounine  in  the  work  of  the 
International.  Later  he  adopted  the  collectivist  posi- 
tion, but   he  remained   a  bitter   opponent   of   Marxian 


66  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

tactics,  and  especially  of  what  seemed  to  him,  as  it  had 
to  BakoLinine,  the  dictatorial  attitude  of  some  of  the 
Marxian  leaders.  The  general  dissatisfaction  with 
Guesde's  leadership  gave  Brousse  an  opportunity  to 
attack  him,  and  he  undertook  the  battle  with  almost 
sinister  delight.  During  the  next  year  or  so  Brousse 
and  Guesde  spent  the  force  which  ought  to  have  been 
given  to  organization  and  propaganda  in  bitter  personal 
attacks;  and  when  the  next  congress  of  the  socialist 
party  assembled  at  St.  Etienne  in  1882,  every  one  fore- 
saw that  it  would  end  in  a  rupture.  Brousse  and  his 
friends  succeeded  in  their  campaign,  and  Guesde  and 
his  sympathizers  retired  from  the  congress  amidst  lively 
scenes.  At  this  time  the  Broussists,  or,  as  they  were 
called  from  this  time  onward,  the  possibilists,  were 
numerous;  but  their  party  was  loosely  organized,  and 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  victories  in  Paris  they  made 
little  impression.  Guesde  and  Lafargue  dominated  the 
industrial  regions  of  the  north,  where  their  adherents 
were  active  and  serious,  and  it  was  inevitable  that 
Guesde  and  his  followers  should,  despite  their  apparent 
defeat,  exercise  the  more  powerful  influence  in  the  rising 
tide  of  revolt. 

During  the  eighties  and  early  nineties  various  attempts 
were  made  by  the  Guesdists  to  recapture  the  trade  union 
movement.  At  times  they  appeared  near  to  success, 
but  again  and  again  they  were  vanquished  ;  and  at  last 
the  trade  unions  and  labor  exchanges  definitely  adopted 
an  anti-parliamentary  attitude.  When  later  "  The  Gen- 
eral Federation  of  Labor  "  was  formed,  it  decided  that 
the  sole  revolutionary  means  to  employ  for  the  emanci- 
pation of  labor  was  the  general  strike.  Guesde  has 
never   known   compromise,  and  despite   the  inevitable 


THE  FRENCH   SOCIALIST  PARTY  6"] 

tendency  of  the  French  masses  to  violent  action,  he  has 
never  wavered  in  his  opposition  to  the  general  strike. 
With  all  the  power  of  his  keen  and  logical  mind  he  con- 
demned and  demonstrated  the  futility  of  the  purely 
economic  strife,  but  without  avail  ;  and  finally  the  main 
body  of  the  union  movement  passed  from  under  his 
influence. 

It  would  seem,  among  such  personal  and  doctrinal 
divisions,  that  socialism  would  have  had  but  little  chance 
of  developing  strength ;  but  what  would  have  made  a 
movement  impossible  in  other  countries  helped  the 
movement  of  France.  Nothing  interests  and  attracts  a 
Frenchman  more  than  a  good  fight,  whether  it  be  in 
the  streets,  in  the  journals,  or  in  the  assembly.  A  cen- 
tury's struggle  for  liberty  has  not  been  without  its  effect, 
and  it  is,  therefore,  a  part  of  the  French  nature  to  ad- 
mire individuality.  An  Englishman  or  an  American 
likes  to  be  in  accord  with  others,  and  to  conform  to  the 
views  of  others.  A  Frenchman  prefers  to  differ,  and 
he  detests  conformity.  As  a  result  the  various  groups, 
with  their  differences  in  doctrine,  their  sectarian  schisms, 
and  even  their  violence,  drew  to  themselves  adherents, 
all  of  whom  seemed  proud  to  have  views  that  differed 
from  those  of  the  other  groups ;  and  no  less  proud  that 
the  views  of  the  various  socialist  groups  differed  funda- 
mentally from  those  of  the  bourgeois  parties.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  individualism,  there  is  among  Frenchmen 
little  respect  for  the  definite  and  detailed  organization 
that  exists  among  the  Germans.  In  the  old  Inter- 
national the  Frenchmen  were  anarchists  and  supported 
the  principles  of  decentralization  and  federalization. 
While  the  Germans,  even  as  outlaws,  were  secretly 
building  up  their  political  organization,  the  Frenchmen 


68    •  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

were  discussing  great  ideas,  and  by  the  force  of  thought 
arrived  at  a  solidarity  of  action  that  has  at  times  made 
the  French  movement  much  more  formidable  even  than 
the  German.  The  German  working-classes  have  few 
dissensions,  and  for  thirty  years  have  worked  mostly  in 
concert.  The  French  movement  is  most  of  the  time 
torn  by  conflicting  views,  but  at  rare  moments  it  demon- 
strates a  solidarity  of  action  that  seems  instinctive. 

Despite  differences,  therefore,  French  socialism  began, 
in  the  early  nineties,  to  impress  itself  upon  the  national 
life.  There  were  no  less  than  five  well-organized  groups. 
The  possibilists  were  led  in  two  sections,  one  by  Brousse 
and  the  other  by  Allemane.  The  collectivists,  support- 
ing the  Marxian  position,  were  led  by  Guesde,  Lafargue, 
and  other  doctrinaires.  The  Blanquists  maintained  the 
traditions  of  the  old  conspirator,  and  announced  them- 
selves ready  for  revolution.  There  was  still  another 
group,  the  independents,  led  at  that  time  by  Millerand, 
Jaures,  and  Fourniere.  It  was  composed  largely  of  radi- 
cals, who  were  beginning  timidly  to  support  the  socialist 
position.  The  leaders  were  of  the  middle  class,  and  they 
brought  into  the  movement  a  brilliant  coterie  of  univer- 
sity men,  journahsts,  and  students. 

The  elections  of  1893  proved  a  striking  victory  for 
the  socialists.  Forty  deputies  were  elected  to  parlia- 
ment upon  a  collectivist  program,  and  the  vote  was  four 
times  larger  than  that  of  1889,  amounting  in  actual 
numbers  to  nearly  half  a  million.  The  Guesdists  and 
all  the  other  groups  had  elected  their  strongest  men. 
This  unexpected  victory  led  to  a  kindly  feeling  that  had 
not  before  existed  between  the  various  sections,  and  in 
order  to  make  their  influence  as  powerful  as  possible, 
they  organized  a  united  socialist  group  in  the  chamber. 


THE   FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  69 

The  work  done  during  the  session  of  1 893-1 898  was  most 
effective.  The  principles  and  program  of  sociaHsm 
were  for  the  first  time  placed  before  the  entire  country 
with  clearness  and  power.  Guesde  took  every  oppor- 
tune moment  to  explain  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
socialism.  He  developed  Marx's  view  concerning  the 
evolution  of  modern  capitalism,  and  showed  how  inev- 
itable it  was  that  socialism  should  follow.  He  also 
forced  upon  the  chamber  a  consideration  of  the  eight- 
hour  day,  and,  in  connection  with  a  municipal  phar- 
macy which  the  socialists  were  endeavoring  to  establish 
at  Roubaix,  he  expounded  the  whole  socialist  program  for 
municipal  reform.  Jaures,  Vaillant,  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  group  developed  other  phases  of  the  socialist 
position.  For  the  first  time  a  just  conception  of  social- 
ism penetrated  into  every  corner  of  France.  Printed 
in  the  official  journal,  these  socialist  addresses  were 
reprinted  in  the  columns  of  all  newspapers  and  jour- 
nals. Collectivism  was  decidedly  to  the  front,  and  every 
editor  in  France  began  to  discuss  the  growing  power 
and  influence  of  the  new  movement. 

During  this  session  Jaures  was  the  leader  of  the  par- 
liamentary 'group.  As  everything  in  the  early  years 
of  the  movement  centred  around  the  personality  of 
Guesde,  so  everything  during  the  last  fourteen  years  in 
France  has  centred  around  the  personality  of  Jaures. 
He  is  without  question  one  of  the  most  powerful  per- 
sonalities in  the  International  movement,  and  one  of 
the  most  popular  in  France.  He  is  still  in  the  prime 
of  life,  barely  forty-eight  years  old,  although  he  began 
his  parliamentary  career  over  twenty  years  ago.  He  is 
of  middle-class  parents  and  was  graduated  with  honors 
from  the  Ecole  Normale  Superieure.     Immediately  after 


70  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

graduation  he  was  made  professor  of  philosophy,  and 
his  studies  led  him  into  the  field  of  socialist  thought. 
The  surging  life  about  him,  and  his  natural  sympathy 
with  the  masses,  contributed  to  a  growing  discontent 
with  the  quiet  of  the  university,  so  remote  from  the 
field  of  action.  In  1885  Jaures  stood  as  candidate  for 
parliament,  and  was  elected.  He  immediately  became 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  radical  group,  and  although  he 
did  not  announce  himself  as  a  socialist,  he  was  at  that 
time  entirely  sympathetic.  Upon  his  defeat  in  the  elec- 
tions of  1889  he  returned  to  the  university  again  as 
professor  of  philosophy.  While  there,  he  prepared  two 
studies  for  his  doctor's  degree,  one  of  which  was  upon 
Origins  of  German  Socialism.  In  1893  he  announced 
himself  as  a  socialist  candidate,  and  was  elected  by  an 
enormous  majority.  He,  Millerand,  Viviani,  and  others 
then  formed  the  independent  socialist  party. 

Jaures  is  a  man  of  extraordinary  capacity  for  work. 
He  has  a  powerful  physique  that  knows  no  fatigue.  It 
is  doubtful  if  he  has  an  equal  as  an  orator,  and  his  abili- 
ties as  a  debater  are  hardly  less  remarkable.  It  is  in- 
tolerable to  him  to  follow,  and  while  he  is  modest  and 
reasonable,  his  exceptional  mental  and  physical  power 
enables,  indeed  forces  him,  to  occupy  a  leading  part  in 
parliamentary  battles.  The  number  of  debates  in  which 
Jaures  is  engaged  is  incredible,  and  alone  they  would 
occupy  the  entire  time  of  most  men.  But  he  is  also 
a  student,  and  his  researches  into  the  history  of  the 
French  revolution  are  said  to  be  exhaustive,  especially 
in  their  examination  of  original  documents.  At  the 
same  time  he  is  the  editor  of  a  daily  paper,  "L'Huma- 
nit6,"  and  there  is  hardly  an  issue  that  does  not  contain 
a  leading  article  by  him.     But  even  these  various  occu- 


THE   FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  /I 

pations  do  not  seem  to  exhaust  the  energies  of  Jaures, 
and  few  men  in  the  socialist  movement  carry  on  through- 
out the  country  a  campaign  of  propaganda  equal  to  his. 
During  elections  and  in  other  times  of  excitement  he 
seems  able  to  preach  to  the  whole  of  France  the  phi- 
losophy of  socialism.  He  conducts  what  we  should 
call  a  whirlwind  campaign  in  parliament,  in  the  jour- 
nals, in  drawing-rooms,  in  the  streets,  and  among 
strikers.  In  the  strike  that  broke  out  in  Carmaux,  he 
led  the  splendid  campaign  of  the  strikers,  and  moved 
the  sympathies  of  all  France  by  his  vivid  portrayal  of 
their  conditions. 

Poor  old  Guesde  was  jubilant.  Sick  and  exhausted 
after  the  weary  years  of  persecution  and  strife,  he 
turned  to  Jaures  as  the  one  who  should  continue  his 
work.  I  am  told  that  one  evening,  after  they  had 
dined  together,  Guesde  said:  "Jaures,  I  am  tired.  I 
have  fought  as  best  I  could.  My  strength  is  gone. 
I  have  looked  for  some  one  else  to  carry  on  the  battle, 
and  now  I  know  you  are  the  one  to  do  it."  Guesde  is 
not  often  sentimental,  and  is  rarely  carried  away  by 
enthusiasm,  but  he  thought  at  that  time  that  the  social- 
ists would  in  a  few  years  control  the  government 
of  France.  He  could  not  have  foreseen  the  days  of 
trial  that  were  coming  to  test  the  movement  to  its  foun- 
dations. Above  all  he  could  hardly  have  realized  that 
Jaures  and  he  were  to  be  opponents  in  one  of  the 
greatest  internal  battles  the  socialist  movement  has 
known. 

Up  to  this  time  Jaures  had  refused  to  recognize  the 
divisions  in  the  party,  and  he  always  spoke  for  any  of 
the  groups  that  desired  his  services.  It  is  unquestion- 
able that  he  wished  unity,  and  used  his  utmost  power 


72  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

to  achieve  it.  In  1898  the  Dreyfus  case  came  to  oc- 
cupy the  thought  of  France,  and  in  a  flash  the  nation 
was  thrown  into  tumults  of  passion.  Aside  from  the 
rights  or  wrongs  of  this  case  at  the  beginning,  when 
it  became  V  Affaire  its  political  importance  could 
hardly  be  ignored  by  any  parliamentary  party.  The 
Guesdists  and  a  few  other  socialists  looked  with  alarm 
upon  its  intrusion  into  parliamentary  life,  for  to  them 
it  meant  that  social  reform  and  socialism  were  to  be  put 
in  the  background,  and  a  purely  personal  and  political 
question  forced  to  the  front.  They  decided,  therefore, 
to  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  matter.  But 
Jaures  followed  his  conviction,  and,  as  we  know,  led 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  battles  in  the  history  of  the 
French  chamber.  For  the  moment  he  seemed  to  forget 
he  was  a  sociaHst,  and  all  his  energies  were  diverted 
from  the  movement  and  devoted  to  V Affaire.  This 
naturally  led  to  difficulties  between  him  and  Guesde, 
who  is  ever  jealous  for  socialism  and  knows  no  diver- 
sion. 

Another  event  transpired  at  about  the  same  time  that 
led  to  an  open  rupture  between  Guesde  and  Jaures. 
When  Waldeck-Rousseau  formed  his  radical  ministry 
in  June,  1899,  he  found  the  active  support  of  the  social- 
ists a  political  necessity.  In  order  to  win  it  he  decided 
to  invite  one  of  their  most  capable  members,  Millerand, 
to  come  into  the  cabinet.  Jaures  supported  the  idea, 
and  openly  urged  Millerand  to  accept  the  position.  At 
the  same  time  General  de  GaUifet,  who  had  crushed  the 
Commune  with  terrible  brutality,  was  also  invited  to  be 
a  member.  It  was  serious  enough  for  a  socialist  to  take 
a  position  in  a  non-socialist  cabinet,  but  for  one  to  enter 
along  with  General  de  Gallifet  stirred  the  party  to  its 


THE   FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  73 

depths.  The  Guesdists  and  the  followers  of  Vaillant, 
an  old  Communard,  issued  a  scathing  manifesto,  ex- 
cluding Millerand  and  his  defenders  from  the  party. 
The  only  union  then  existing  between  the  various 
socialist  organizations  was  in  their  parliamentary  work, 
and  the  followers  of  both  Guesde  and  Vaillant  retired 
from  the  parliamentary  group.  It  is  possible  that  Jaures 
had  not  fully  realized  the  seriousness  of  Millerand's 
action,  and  to  mend  matters  he  urged  the  immediate 
necessity  of  complete  union ;  and  against  the  will  of 
his  opponents  forced  a  general  congress  of  all  socialist 
bodies.  As  a  result  a  central  body  was  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  out  the  details  of  unification  ;  but 
the  diverse  elements  were  too  deeply  hostile  to  one 
another,  and  too  much  absorbed  in  the  Millerand-Wal- 
deck-Rousseau  ministry,  to  consider  calmly  proposals 
for  unity.  The  International  Socialist  Congress,  which 
was  held  in  Paris  in  1900,  was  forced  by  the  situation 
in  France  to  give  almost  its  entire  time  to  the  "  cas 
Millerand."  The  French  socialists  held  themselves  in 
check  as  best  they  could  during  the  international  gather- 
ing, but  a  short  time  later  at  a  national  congress,  which 
it  was  hoped  would  establish  unity,  the  Guesdists  and 
the  followers  of  Vaillant  left  the  assembly  in  a  body. 

Indeed,  there  was  no  possibility  at  that  time  of 
union  between  the  various  socialist  groups,  and  during 
the  next  four  or  five  years  the  differences  between 
them  were  accentuated.  Various  efforts  were  made 
toward  conciliation,  but  without  result.  Guesde  was 
uncompromising,  and  Jaures  was  passing  through  a 
crisis  of  thought  that  appeared  to  lead  him  farther 
and  farther  from  the  accepted  political  tactics  of  mod- 
ern  socialism.      To  read  the  masterly  defence  of  his 


74  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

policy  which  he  delivered  at  the  Bordeaux  congress 
of  1903  leads  one  to  the  realization  that  a  crisis  faced 
not  only  the  French,  but  the  whole  international, 
movement.  "  Guesde  is  wrong,"  Jaures  said,  "  in  think- 
ing .  -  .  that  the  state  is  exclusively  a  class-state,  upon 
which  the  too  feeble  hand  of  the  proletariat  cannot  yet 
inscribe  the  smallest  portion  of  its  will.  In  a  democ- 
racy, in  a  republic  where  there  is  universal  suffrage, 
the  state  is  not  for  the  proletarians  a  refractory,  hard, 
absolutely  impermeable  and  impenetrable  block.  Pene- 
tration has  begun  already.  In  the  municipalities,  in  par- 
liament, in  the  central  government,  there  has  begun  the 
penetration  of  sociahstic  and  proletarian  influence.  .  .  . 
If  it  is  in  part  penetrated  by  this  democratic,  popular, 
sociahst  force,  and  if  we  can  reasonably  hope  that  by  or- 
ganization, education,  and  propaganda  this  penetration 
will  become  so  full,  deep,  and  decisive,  that  in  time  by 
accumulated  efforts  we  shall  find  the  proletarian  and 
socialistic  state  to  have  replaced  the  oligarchic  and 
bourgeois  state,  then  perhaps  we  shall  be  aware  of  hav- 
ing entered  the  zone  of  socialism,  as  navigators  are 
aware  of  having  crossed  the  line  of  a  hemisphere  — 
not  that  they  have  been  able  to  see  as  they  crossed  it 
a  cord  stretched  over  the  ocean  warning  them  of  their 
passage,  but  that  little  by  little  they  have  been  led  into 
a  new  hemisphere  by  the  progress  of  their  ship.  .  .  , 
I  acknowledge  that  this  complicated  policy  which  I  am 
trying  to  formulate  before  the  party,  a  policy  which 
consists  in  at  once  collaborating  with  all  democrats,  yet 
vigorously  distinguishing  one's  self  from  them  ;  pene- 
trating partially  into  the  state  of  to-day,  yet  dominating 
the  state  of  to-day  from  the  heights  of  our  ideal  —  I 
acknowledge  that  this  policy  is  complicated,  that  it  is 


THE  FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  75 

awkward,  that  it  will  create  serious  difficulties  for  us  at 
every  turn." 

It  is  difficult  indeed  to  overestimate  the  dangers 
of  this  policy.  It  opens  the  way  to  compromise  and 
corruption.  It  destroys  the  independence  of  the  move- 
ment, and  in  the  end  confuses  it  with  the  purely  politi- 
cal manoeuvring  of  the  other  classes.  It  endangers 
the  socialist  ideal,  and  leaves  to  the  movement  only 
a  policy  of  petty  reform.  Although  Jaures  saw  reefs 
ahead  and  warned  Millerand  that  his  policy  would  allow 
them  to  abandon  all  "but  what  can  be  easily  assimilated 
by  the  governmental  action  of  to-day,"  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  did  not  deter  him.  These  questions,  so 
vital  to  the  party,  which  were  only  superficially  con- 
sidered at  the  international  congress  of  igoo,  were  the 
subject  of  a  historic  debate  at  the  international  meet- 
ing of  1904  at  Amsterdam. 

The  year  before,  at  the  Dresden  congress  of  the 
German  party,  a  great  struggle  had  taken  place  between 
Bebel  and  his  followers  and  those  who  have  come  to  be 
called  revisionists.  The  latter  had  for  several  years 
been  criticising  the  uncompromising  tactics  and  pohtical 
methods  of  the  party.  They  were  of  the  opinion  that 
infinitely  more  could  be  accomplished  by  so  powerful  a 
movement  if  it  compromised  with  the  other  political 
parties  and  participated  in  governmental  power.  The 
methods  advocated  by  the  revisionists  were  those  used 
by  Jaures  in  France,  and  their  contention  seemed  to  be 
making  headway.  At  Dresden  the  entire  subject  was 
examined  from  both  a  theoretical  and  practical  stand- 
point. The  revisionists  were  defeated,  and  what  has 
since  been  known  as  the  Dresden  resolution  was  almost 
unanimously  passed.     It  condemned  in  the  most  ener- 


'j6  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

getic  fashion  the  revisionist  tendencies.  It  declared 
that  the  sociaHsts  should  pursue  a  policy  strictly  inde- 
pendent of  all  other  pohtical  parties,  and  should  in  no 
wise  consent  to  participate  in  a  capitalist  government ; 
and  it  expressed  its  entire  belief  in  the  wisdom  and 
utility  of  the  old  political  tactics  which  had  enabled 
the  party  to  reach  its  present  strength  and  to  accomplish 
so  much  for  the  welfare  of  the  working-class. 

Guesde  and  his  followers  considered  the  decision  of 
the  Germans  of  supreme  importance,  and  they  decided 
to  bring  the  matter  before  the  International  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defining  the  political  method  of  the  interna- 
tional movement.  Nearly  all  the  great  speakers  — 
Bebel,  Vandervelde,  Ferri,  Adler,  Anseele,  Guesde,  and 
Jaures  —  participated  in  the  debate,  and  what  has  been 
described  as  "a  titanic  international  duel"  took  place 
between  Bebel  and  Jaures.  The  latter,  in  a  series  of 
masterly  addresses,  defended  his  position  in  France. 
He  endeavored  to  prove  that  it  was  impossible  to  have 
the  same  political  tactics  in  all  countries.  There  was, 
he  maintained,  an  essential  difference  between  the  polit- 
ical methods  to  be  adopted  in  a  republic  and  those 
necessary  in  an  autocracy.  He  claimed  that  the  very 
helplessness  of  the  German  party  was  adequate  reason 
for  their  adoption  of  an  uncompromising  and  hostile  at- 
titude toward  the  governing  and  all  other  parties.  On 
the  contrary  the  power  exercised  by  the  proletariat  in  a 
republic  forced  it  to  accept  a  responsible  part  in  govern- 
ment. Pleading  for  Millerand  and  the  political  policy 
of  his  section,  he  claimed  they  had  aided  in  saving  the 
republic  to  France,  they  had  defeated  the  reactionary 
bloc,  and  crushed  the  conspiracy  between  caesarism 
and  clericalism.     He   portrayed  the  advance  made  in 


THE   FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  'jy 

recent  years  in  France  toward  a  system  of  social  legis- 
lation, measures  for  the  protection  of  labor,  and  the 
nationalization  of  public  utilities.  When  he  finished,  he 
was  given  an  ovation,  and  shouts  of  approval  came  from 
all  parts  of  the  hall. 

When  Bebel  arose,  it  seemed  impossible  that  he  should 
overcome  the  powerful  arguments  and  torrential  elo- 
quence of  Jaures.  His  reply  was  quiet,  logical,  and  in- 
cisive. He  condemned  the  policy  of  compromise,  and 
showed  that  the  hostile  method  of  his  own  party  had 
gained  for  the  German  working  men  a  far  greater  range 
of  social  reforms  than  those  existing  in  France.  He 
showed  how  in  France,  under  the  ministry  of  which 
Millerand  was  a  part,  the  workmen  were  intimidated 
and  the  army  used  against  the  strikers  in  a  way  never 
done  in  Germany.  While  declaring  himself  a  republi- 
can, he  demonstrated  that  whatever  political  form  of 
government  existed,  the  capitalists  gained  control  of  it, 
and  used  it  against  the  interest  of  the  workers.  He  did 
not  deny  that  Jaures  and  the  French  socialists  should 
exert  themselves  to  save  the  republic,  or  to  fight  with 
the  bourgeois  to  separate  the  Church  from  the  State,  but 
a  collaboration  with  other  parties  should  be  temporary, 
and  as  soon  as  the  particular  battle  was  over  the  old 
uncompromising  attitude  should  be  resumed. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  few  words  to  sum  up  a  debate 
which  was  on  both  sides  succinct  and  yet  comprehensive. 
Hardly  a  phrase  could  be  eliminated  from  either  address 
without  injury  to  the  subject-matter.  But  the  victory 
was  to  Bebel,  and  a  revised  resolution  based  upon  that 
of  Dresden  was  passed  almost  unanimously.  Jaures 
fought  brilliantly,  and  defeated,  he  was  loyal.  He  ac- 
cepted  the    decision    of  the   congress,   and    submitted 


78  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

himself  to  that  discipline  which  is  so  striking  a  charac- 
teristic of  the  socialist  movement.  Upon  his  return  to 
France  union  was  established,  and  since  that  time  it 
has  not  been  seriously  in  danger.  Jules  Guesde  had 
in  1879  forced  German  political  tactics  upon  the  French 
movement.  Twenty-five  years  later,  he  repeated  his 
extraordinary  achievement. 

With  this  rapid  historical  survey,  let  us  go  back  to 
the  Potteries,  where  the  united  party  assembled  in  con- 
gress. It  was  held  in  a  big,  barnlike  structure,  which 
belonged  to  the  Cooperative  Union  of  Limoges,  and 
which  under  ordinary  circumstances  served  as  a  great 
storehouse  for  their  supplies.  Two  splendid  banners 
were  displayed  above  the  platform.  One  bore  the 
motto  of  socialism,  and  its  rallying  cry  throughout  the 
world,  which  carries  in  its  five  words  both  the  philos- 
ophy and  the  program  of  the  contemporary  struggle 
for  freedom  :  "  Working  Men  of  all  Countries,  Unite  !  " 
The  other,  a  banner  with  letters  of  gold,  breathed  forth 
the  spirit  of  internationahsm  with  which  the  French 
movement  is  specially  permeated  and  glorified  :  "  Parti 
Socialiste :  Sectiojt  Franqaise  de  V hiteriiatioiiale  Oji- 
vriere.'"  This,  then,  is  a  congress  of  a  great  national 
section  of  the  International  Socialist  Party  ! 

At  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  220  delegates,  repre- 
senting Gy  sections  of  the  French  party,  took  their 
seats.  They  were  a  strong-looking  lot  of  men,  and 
while,  as  I  have  said,  the  middle-class  element  was 
.  large,  the  delegates  were  mainly  working  men.  I 
almost  instantly  picked  out  Jules  Guesde.  One  would 
remark  him  anywhere.  The  pallor  of  his  dark  skin 
gives  one  the  first  impression  of  physical  weakness. 
He    has    great   masses   of   long   black    hair   which    he 


THE   FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  79 

tosses  back  over  his  head  and  ears.  He  is  upward 
of  sixty,  but  his  eyes  still  burn  and  his  thought  comes 
in  flashes.  Every  expression,  word,  and  act  tell  of 
what  Guesde  is  and  of  what  he  has  always  been.  He 
is  a  zealot.  His  whole  being  loathes  the  system  under 
which  we  live,  and  he  lights  it,  not  calmly,  but  at  fever 
heat.  His  voice  is  piercing,  almost  painful  at  times, 
but  his  thought  is  as  clear  as  a  mountain  stream,  and 
it  tears  its  way  through  all  obstacles  at  a  rate  which  is 
almost  unbelievable.  He  knows  no  compromise  and 
gives  no  quarter.  He  is  fearless  and  imperious.  His 
words  come  like  rapier  thrusts,  and  he  often  uses  them 
as  unmercifully.  By  the  side  of  Guesde  sits  Gustave 
Delory,  who  was  breaking  stones  on  the  streets  of  Lille 
two  years  before  he  was  elected  mayor  of  that  great 
city,  and  who  is  now  a  deputy  in  parliament.  In  both 
places  he  has  astonished  friend  and  foe  alike  by  his 
extraordinary  ability. 

The  fine,  jovial  face  with  merry  twinkling  eyes  and 
white  hair  in  abundance  is  that  of  Paul  Lafargue.  One 
could  see  that  it  must  be  he  who  had  written  the  fantastic 
socialist  tracts  one  reads  with  such  pleasure,  and  who, 
as  Emile  Vandervelde  has  said,  loves  nothing  so  much 
as  to  shock  the  timid  by  his  extreme  paradoxes.  The 
strongly  built,  gray-bearded  rnan,  with  blue  glasses  and 
a  small  cap,  is  Edouard  Vaillant,  the  veteran  revolution- 
ist, and  a  leader  of  that  terrible  insurrection  of  '71. 
He  once  made  the  remark  that  he  had  never  known 
any  kind  of  revolution  that  he  was  not  in  favor  of.  He 
is  still  fighting  at  the  head  of  the  movement,  and  per- 
haps no  other  man  in  France  is  more  long-headed  in 
times  of  stress  than  Vaillant. 

Jaures  sits  far  away  to  the  back  of  the  room.     He 


80  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

is  a  short,  thickset  man,  powerfully  built,  with  leonine 
head.  He  shows  in  every  movement  quickness  of  ac- 
tion, tireless  energy,  and  the  enormous  quantity  of 
physical  and  mental  power  which  he  possesses.  One 
can  feel  the  sentiment  of  the  South  in  him.  He  is  a 
man  of  emotion  whose  whole  being  revolts  at  the  cruel- 
ties, the  miseries,  the  brutalities,  of  the  present  system. 
One  can  see  that  he  likes  to  be  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight.  He  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  Senator  La 
Follette.  Physically  and  mentally  as  well  as  in  their 
power  of  debate  and  oration  they  are  as  ahke  as 
brothers.  Besides  the  men  I  have  mentioned  there 
were  many  others  of  international  renown,  such  as,  for 
instance,  Gustave  Herve,  the  great  apostle  of  anti-mili- 
tarism, who  has  only  recently  come  out  of  prison,  where 
he  had  been  sent  for  his  propaganda  among  the  con- 
scripts. But  I  should  take  too  much  space  if  I  were 
to  attempt  to  describe  all  the  noted  men  who  were 
present.  There  were  others  almost  as  well  known  as 
those  named,  and  many  younger  men  of  brilliant  abil- 
ity who  are  fully  prepared  to  take  the  places  of  the 
older  men  when  they  are  gone.  My  purpose  must  be 
now  to  tell  a  little  of  the  work  of  the  congress. 

The  reports  of  the  administration  showed  a  remark- 
able progress  in  the  growth  of  the  movement.  When 
the  various  parties  were  united,  there  were  only  27,000 
persons  definitely  affiliated  and  paying  dues.  Now 
there  are  more  than  52,000.  The  party  is  organized 
in  over  70  different  federations,  with  affiliated  groups 
in  80  out  of  the  97  departments  of  France.  There  are 
2160  municipal  councillors,  149  mayors,  and  219  vice- 
mayors  in  the  various  cities,  towns,  and  villages  of 
France.     In  parliament  the  socialist  group  numbers  52 


THE  FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  8 1 

members,  and  at  the  last  elections  the  total  vote  given 
to  346  candidates  put  forward  by  the  party  was  approx- 
imately 900,000,  an  augmentation  of  12  per  cent  over 
the  vote  obtained  in  1902,  The  press  of  the  party  in- 
cludes three  daily  papers  :  "  L'Humanite,"  in  Paris,  "  Le 
Populaire  du  Centre,"  at  Limoges,  and  "  Le  Droit  du 
Peuple,"  at  Grenoble  ;  and  in  addition  there  are  two 
biweeklies,  37  weeklies,  and  two  monthlies. 

These  interesting  reports  as  to  the  progress  of  the 
movement  were  followed  by  several  debates,  the  most 
important  of  which  was  perhaps  that  concerning  the 
relation  between  the  trade  unions  and  the  socialist 
party.  It  was  the  old  controversy  that  has  agitated  the 
movement  for  thirty  years,  during  all  of  which  time 
Guesde  has  made  repeated  efforts  to  capture  the  unions 
and  to  persuade  them  to  adopt  a  parhamentary  attitude. 
Indeed,  it  is  the  most  vital  question  before  the  socialists 
in  all  countries,  except  in  England  and  in  Belgium,  where 
the  workers,  politically  and  industrially,  are  closely  and 
firmly  united.  It  was  the  real  problem  back  of  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  general  strike  in  Germany,  and  it  was  also 
at  the  bottom  of  all  the  discussions  of  the  Italian  congress. 
And  with  us  in  America,  it  is  one  which  must  be  solved, 
or  the  socialist  movement  may  long  continue  in  its  pres- 
ent ineffective  condition. 

The  question  was  brought  before  the  congress  in  a 
motion  made  by  the  Guesdists,  which  was  aimed  against 
what  is  called  the  neutrality  of  the  unions  ;  that  is  to 
say,  their  non-political  attitude.  In  France,  as  in  Italy, 
the  trade  unions  are  extremely  revolutionary,  and  the 
advanced  wing  and  some  of  the  most  ardent  fighters  are 
bitterly  opposed  to  parliamentary  methods.  Some  of 
them  are,   of   course,    anarchists ;    others  are    "  syndi- 


82  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

calists  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  believers  in  direct  action  by  the 
workers  themselves  by  means  of  the  general  strike.  The 
Guesdists  wished  to  begin  a  war  upon  these  elements 
and  by  resolution  to  condemn  the  independent  action  of 
the  unions.  They  also  asked  for  the  constitution  of  a 
permanent  committee  to  consolidate  the  unions  and  the 
socialist  party.  The  resolution  called  forth  an  immense 
and  heated  debate.  Two  days  and  all  of  one  night  were 
consumed  in  discussion.  About  forty  delegates  inscribed 
their  names  as  wishing  to  take  part,  but  after  several  had 
spoken  it  was  seen  that  this  question  alone  would  occupy 
the  entire  time  of  the  congress  unless  some  Hmit  was 
put  either  as  to  time  or  as  to  the  number  of  speakers.  As 
the  French  have  a  prejudice  against  a  time  limit,  it  was 
decided  to  ask  all  those  desiring  to  speak  to  retire  and 
select  from  among  themselves  those  who  were  best  fitted 
to  place  the  various  points  of  view  before  the  congress. 
Eleven  out  of  the  thirty  who  still  desired  to  speak  were 
then  selected,  and  among  others  Jaures,  Herve,  AUemane, 
and  Guesde. 

The  debate  was  both  brilliant  and  instructive.  While 
it  comprehended  questions  which  we  do  not  have  in 
America,  much  of  the  discussion  was  upon  the  relative 
power  of  the  two  organizations,  —  the  unions  upon  the 
economic,  the  socialists  upon  the  political  field,  —  to 
achieve  the  emancipation  of  the  working-class.  The 
only  view  that  was  not  represented  was  that  of  "the 
pure  and  simple  "  trade  unionist,  for  there  is  no  one  of 
importance  in  the  labor  movement  in  France  who  would 
consider  that  the  working-class  should  concern  itself 
merely  with  a  struggle  for  shorter  hours  and  better 
wages.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  would  any  one  suggest 
that  the  labor  movement  should  ally  itself  with  one  of 


THE   FRENCH   SOCIALIST   PARTY  83 

the  old  parties.  The  movement  is  too  far  advanced  for 
that.  The  fundamental  question  is  whether  the  unions 
shall  take  industry  into  their  own  hands,  by  means  of  the 
general  strike  and  any  other  direct  revolutionary  method 
available,  or  whether  they  shall  pursue  the  parliamentary 
method,  and  in  this  way  gradually  capture  the  state,  and 
through  it  socialize  industry. 

So  much  for  the  ground  of  the  debate.  The  Guesdists 
are  revolutionary  parliamentarians,  who  are  convinced 
that  the  workers  can  do  nothing  without  having  the  state 
in  their  hands,  and  they  are  apt  to  underestimate  the 
importance  of  trade  union  action.  The  opposing  ele- 
ments in  the  party,  like  Vaillant  and  Jaures,  desire  to 
leave  the  unions  independent,  and  to  neutralize  by  their 
own  propaganda  that  of  the  anarchists.  Vaillant  feared 
the  resolution  of  the  Guesdists  would  only  serve  to 
aggravate  the  conflict  between  the  party  and  the  unions. 
The  congress,  he  said,  ought  to  affirm  the  necessity  for 
the  economic  movement,  and  it  ought  not  to  wish  to 
subordinate  the  unions  to  the  party.  It  ought  to  recog- 
nize the  Federation  of  Labor  as  the  economic  unit  of  the 
proletariat,  and  to  say  that  the  socialist  party  will  give 
it  every  aid  in  its  economic  struggle.  This  was  very 
much  the  trend  of  the  debate  against  the  motion.  Jaures 
made  a  very  long,  but,  it  seemed  to  me,  not  very  effective 
address,  although  it  was  delivered  with  all  the  power  and 
magnetism  of  his  personality  and  impressive  oratory. 

There  was  an  effort  made  by  both  sides  to  arrive  at 
an  amicable  settlement  of  the  difference  of  opinion,  but 
neither  could  conscientiously  yield  upon  the  vital  issue. 
After  two  days  of  discussion,  representatives  of  the 
varying  views  were  sent  into  a  special  committee  to 
arrive,  if  possible,  at  a  compromise.     Having  sat  most 


84  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

of  the  night  without  reaching  a  settlement,  the  two 
following  resolutions  were  submitted  to  the  vote.  That 
supported  by  the  Guesdists  declared :  "  It  is  the  same 
class,  the  same  proletariat,  which  organizes  and  acts, 
both  on  the  economic  field  through  its  unions,  and  on 
the  political  field  through  its  socialist  party ;  and  if 
these  two  methods  of  action  and  organization  cannot 
be  blended,  they  cannot  ignore  one  another,  without 
mortally  dividing  the  proletariat  against  itself  and  ren- 
dering it  incapable  of  emancipating  itself ;  it  is  neces- 
sary, therefore,  according  to  circumstances,  that  the 
trade  union  and  poHtical  actions  of  the  workers  should 
be  in  concert  and  unison." 

That  supported  by  Jaur^s,  Vaillant,  and  others  was  to 
the  effect  that :  "  The  congress,  convinced  that  the 
working-class  will  only  be  able  to  fully  free  itself  by  the 
combined  force  of  trade  union  and  political  action,  by 
the  unions  going  as  far  as  the  general  strike,  and  by 
the  conquest  of  all  the  political  power,  in  view  of  the 
general  expropriation  of  capitalism  ;  that  this  double 
action  will  be  much  the  more  efficacious  as  the  political 
organizations  and  the  economic  organizations  shall  have 
their  complete  autonomy ;  and  taking  official  notice  of 
the  resolution  of  the  trade  union  congress  at  Amiens, 
which  affirms  the  independence  of  the  trade  union 
movement  of  all  political  parties ;  invites  all  mihtants  to 
do  their  best  to  dissipate  all  misunderstanding  between 
the  Federation  of  Labor  and  the  Socialist  Party." 

These  two  resolutions  were  put  to  vote,  and  the  lat- 
ter was  carried  by  148  mandates  against  130,  with  nine 
abstentions.  The  closeness  of  the  vote  shows  that  the 
policy  of  the  party  in  this  matter  is  not  finally  settled. 
And  it  is  needless  to  say  that  had  the  vote  gone  the 


THE  FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  85 

Other  way  it  would  have  offered  no  solution  to  the  vex- 
ing problem  of  harmonizing  the  tendencies  of  these  two 
great  movements  of  the  working-class.  The  solution 
lies  not  so  much  in  resolutions  as  in  convincing  the 
proletariat  that  there  is  danger  in  the  present  friction 
between  those  who  would  take  the  view  that  parlia- 
mentary action  is  alone  necessary  to  emancipate  the 
working-class,  and  those  unionists  who  are  constantly 
proclaiming  that  the  economic  movement  with  revolu- 
tion as  the  end  is  the  sole  method  worthy  of  engaging 
the  energies  of  the  proletariat. 

Upon  the  report  of  the  socialist  group  in  parliament 
another  interesting  discussion  took  place.  This  time  it 
was  as  to  the  attitude  that  the  party  should  take  in  its 
relation  to  the  Clemenceau  ministry  which  had  been 
formed  on  the  eve  of  the  congress.*  Two  of  the  ablest 
socialists,  Briand  and  Viviani,  had  taken  posts  in  the 
new  cabinet,  and  Millerand  had  been  offered  a  portfolio, 
but  had  refused  it.  The  entire  cabinet  was  made  up  of 
men  of  radical  opinion,  and  the  parliamentary  session  at 
hand  promised  to  be  most  interesting.  There  were 
many  questions  upon  which  the  opinion  of  the  socialist 
party  could  not  easily  be  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
ministry.  It  was  decided,  therefore,  that  there  should 
be  a  resolution  formulated  expressing  the  views  of  the 
congress  as  to  the  relation  which  should  exist.  After 
some  discussion,  in  which  Jaures  and  Guesde  took  part, 
the  following  resolution  was  passed  :  — 

"  The  congress,  considering  that  any  change  in  the 
personnel  of  a  capitalist  government  could  not  in  any 
way  modify  the  fundamental  policy  of  the  party,  puts 
the  proletariat  on  its  guard  against  the  insufficiency  of 

*  See  also  p.  250. 


86  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

a  program,  even  the  most  advanced,  of  the  '  democratic 
bourgeoisie ' ;  it  reminds  the  workers  that  their  Hbera- 
tion  will  only  be  possible  through  the  social  ownership 
of  capital,  that  there  is  no  socialism  except  in  the 
sociaHst  party,  organized  and  unified,  and  that  its 
representation  in  parliament,  while  striving  to  realize 
the  reforms  which  will  augment  the  force  of  action  and 
the  demands  of  the  proletariat,  shall  at  the  same  time 
oppose  unceasingly,  to  all  restricted  and  too  often 
illusory  programs,  the  reality  and  integrity  of  the 
socialist    ideal." 

Every  one  rejoiced  that  there  was  no  serious  differ- 
ence of  opinion  in  this  matter,  for  many  had  feared 
that  Jaures  would  be  inclined  to  view  favorably  the 
new  ministry.  The  passing  of  the  above  resolution 
without  a  dissenting  voice  proved  beyond  question  that 
the  party  was  firmly  cemented  in  its  bonds  of  union, 
and  needless  to  say,  it  was  a  cause  for  supreme  happi- 
ness to  the  entire  congress.  In  conversation  Jaures 
was  overheard  to  say  to  a  few  comrades  who  were 
speaking  to  him  of  this  resolution  and  the  "  socialists  " 
Briand  and  Viviani :  "  Outside  of  the  united  party,  there 
are  no  socialists." 

Unity,  submission  to  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the 
party,  friendly  words  between  those  of  different  views 
on  tactics,  the  absence  of  ill  feehng  of  any  kind,  all  of 
these  things  impressed  one  with  the  new  life  of  the 
French  movement.  The  desire  for  accord  was  so  great 
that  Herve  remarked  on  one  occasion  that  the  congress 
was  afflicted  with  a  strange  malady,  that  of  unanimity. 
Nevertheless,  one  could  still  see  signs  of  the  old  divisions, 
and  occasionally  the  factions  seemed  on  the  point  of 
breaking  forth  in  their  old  lines  of  battle ;  but  the  desire 


THE   FRENCH    SOCIALIST   PARTY  87 

for  unity  was  too  strong,  and  I  am  sure  that  Guesde  ex- 
pressed the  view  of  every  one  who  attended  the  congress 
when  he  said  afterward  :  "  Unity  has  come  to  stay,  and 
no  man  in  the  party  is  strong  enough  to  destroy  it." 
This  is  the  word  of  courage  that,  after  thirty  years  or 
more  of  quarrels  and  schisms,  the  French  socialist 
movement  now  sends  forth  to  the  world. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE    BRITISH    LABOR    PARTY 

No  Other  socialist  body  in  Europe  was  founded  under 
what  seemed  to  be  such  favorable  auspices  as  the  Social 
Democratic  Federation  of  Great  Britain.  The  time  was 
ripe  for  socialist  agitation  and  organization.  The  reac- 
tion against  the  barren  and  treacherous  policy  of  the 
liberal  party,  which  had  been  returned  to  power  in  1880 
under  Gladstone,  was  in  full  swing,  and  gave  birth  to  a 
political  revolt  led  by  some  eminent  democrats  and 
reformers.  In  1881  they  held  a  meeting  in  the  West- 
minster Palace  Hotel  to  discuss  plans  for  united  action. 
It  was  a  notable  gathering.  There  was  Joseph  Cowen, 
the  intimate  friend  of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi,  an  ardent 
republican  and  radical,  who  with  Sir  Charles  Dilke, 
Bradlaugh,  Auberon  Herbert,  and  others,  had  in  the 
seventies  carried  on  a  courageous  campaign  against 
monarchy.  Professor  Edward  S.  Beesley,  who  had  in 
1864  presided  over  the  inauguration  of  the  International 
Working  Men's  Association,  was  also  there.  He  was  an 
eminent  positivist,  a  brave  and  fearless  thinker,  and  had 
been  a  warm  friend  of  the  trade  union  movement  in  the 
day  when  to  be  its  friend  meant  persecution  and  social 
ostracism.  At  a  second  meeting,  H.  M.  Hyndman  oc- 
cupied the  chair.  He  was  a  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
man,  a  brilliant  journalist  who  had  specialized  in  Indian 
affairs,  and  had  aroused  immense  interest  in  that  colony 


THE   BRITISH    LABOR   PARTY  89 

by  his  remarkable  portrayal  of  the  evils  prevalent  under 
British  rule.  After  his  defeat  as  an  independent  candi- 
date for  parliament  in  1880,  he  had  thrown  himself  into 
a  campaign  of  protest  against  the  coercion  policy  of 
Gladstone  in  Ireland.  Helen  Taylor,  the  niece  of  John 
Stuart  Mill,  Herbert  Burrows,  and  Belfort  Bax  were  also 
among  the  early  members.  As  a  result  of  these  con- 
ferences the  Democratic  Federation  was  formed,  and  a 
definitely  socialist  program  was  adopted.  Directly  after- 
ward, William  Morris,  Edward  Carpenter,  and  Walter 
Crane  came  into  the  Federation  ;  and  John  Burns,  Jack 
Williams,  and  Tom  Mann,  three  of  the  most  effective  labor 
agitators  in  England,  joined  a  year  or  so  later. 

About  the  same  time  another  socialist  organization, 
the  Fabian  Society,  was  formed.  Professor  Thomas 
Davidson  had  gathered  about  him  a  group  of  young  men 
to  whom  he  presented  with  lofty  sentiment  and  fine 
humanism  his  philosophy  for  perfecting  individual  char- 
acter. He  held  their  attention  for  some  time,  but  at  last, 
Bernard  Shaw  says,  "  Certain  members  of  that  circle, 
modestly  feeling  that  the  revolution  would  have  to  wait 
an  unreasonably  long  time  if  postponed  until  they  per- 
sonally had  attained  perfection,  set  up  the  banner  of 
socialism  militant ;  seceded  from  the  regenerators  ;  and 
established  themselves  independently  as  the  Fabian 
Society."  Bernard  Shaw,  Sidney  Webb,  Sydney  Olivier, 
now  Governor  of  Jamaica,  Hubert  Bland,  and  Graham 
Wallas  were  among  the  secessionists. 

To  any  one  who  knows  anything  of  English  affairs, 
the  names  of  the  founders  of  these  two  socialist  organi- 
zations are  ones  to  conjure  with.  All  men  of  brilliant 
ability,  they  threw  themselves  into  the  rising  movement 
with  boundless  energy.     A   socialist  paper,  "Justice," 


90  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

was  Started  with  Edward  Carpenter's  money,  and  was 
kept  going  by  William  Morris,  until  a  few  years  later  he 
launched  "The  Commonweal,"  where  he  printed  some  of 
his  noble  contributions  to  socialist  literature.  All  of 
these  men  carried  on,  up  and  down  the  country,  a  cam- 
paign of  meetings  that  seemed  to  promise  for  the  English 
movement  a  series  of  brilHant  successes. 

In  1886  socialist  agitation  began  in  earnest,  as  a 
result  of  a  depression  which  had  paralyzed  industry, 
and  had  rendered  the  condition  of  the  unemployed 
desperate.  Huge  meetings  were  held  by  the  social- 
ists to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  government 
the  misery  of  the  people.  After  one  of  the  gather- 
ings in  February,  1886,  the  famished  workers  rushed 
through  Pall  Mall  and  other  streets  of  the  West  End, 
and  inflamed  by  the  jeers  of  some  young  men  sitting  in 
the  windows  of  one  of  the  fashionable  clubs,  they  broke 
into  a  riot.  The  meeting  had  been  organized  by  the 
Social  Democratic  Federation,  and  had  been  addressed 
by  Hyndman,  Burns,  Champion,  and  Williams,  all  of 
whom  were  indicted  for  having  incited  the  mob  to  insur- 
rection. The  upper  classes  were  thrown  into  a  panic  ; 
all  sorts  of  vague  rumors  were  rife  as  to  a  violent  up- 
rising of  the  people,  and  the  trial  of  the  leaders  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  whole  country  to  the  views  of  the 
socialists. 

During  all  that  year  and  the  next,  the  agitation 
was  kept  up  with  unabated  vigor,  and  on  the  13th  of 
November,  1887,  another  uprising  occurred  which  is  still 
remembered  in  England  as  "  Bloody  Sunday."  A  meet- 
ing in  Trafalgar  Square  had  been  advertised  to  protest 
against  the  policy  of  the  government  in  Ireland.  It  was 
a  huge    gathering  of  discontented,   impoverished  peo- 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  9I 

pie,  led  mainly  by  the  socialists.  Burns,  Cunninghame 
Graham,  and  others  were  leading  groups  toward  the 
Square,  and  William  Morris,  at  the  head  of  a  long  pro- 
cession, was  making  his  way  toward  the  same  centre. 
Mackail,  in  his  "  Life  of  Morris,"  says  that:  "  No  one  who 
saw  it  will  ever  forget  the  strange  and  indeed  terrible  sight 
of  that  gray  winter  day,  the  vast  sombre-colored  crowd, 
the  brief  but  fierce  struggle  at  the  corner  of  the  Strand, 
and  the  river  of  steel  and  scarlet  that  moved  slowly 
through  the  dusky  swaying  masses  when  two  squadrons 
of  the  Life  Guards  were  summoned  up  from  Whitehall. 
Morris  himself  did  not  see  it  till  all  was  nearly  over. 
He  had  marched  with  one  of  the  columns  which  were 
to  converge  on  Trafalgar  Square  from  all  quarters.  It 
started  in  good  order  to  the  number  of  five  or  six  thou- 
sand from  Clerkenwell  Green,  but  at  the  crossing  of 
Shaftesbury  Avenue  was  attacked  in  front  and  on  both 
flanks  by  a  strong  force  of  police.  They  charged  into 
it  with  great  violence,  striking  right  and  left  indiscrimi- 
nately. In  a  few  minutes  it  was  helplessly  broken  up. 
Only  disorganized  fragments  straggled  into  the  Square, 
to  find  that  the  other  columns  had  also  been  headed  off 
or  crushed,  and  that  the  day  was  practically  over. 
Preparations  had  been  made  to  repel  something  little 
short  of  a  popular  insurrection.  An  immense  police 
force  had  been  concentrated,  and  in  the  afternoon  the 
Square  was  lined  by  a  battalion  of  Foot  Guards,  with 
fixed  bayonets  and  twenty  rounds  of  ball  cartridge.  For 
an  hour  or  two  the  danger  was  imminent  of  street  fight- 
ing such  as  had  not  been  known  in  London  for  more 
than  a  century."  This  shows  the  character  of  the  agita- 
tion carried  on  by  the  socialists  during  the  eighties. 
All  of  them,  together  with  many  of  the  old  radicals, 


92  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

were  involved  again  and  again  in  street  riots  and  colli- 
sions with  the  poUce  for  asserting  the  right  of  free 
speech. 

A  general  awakening  of  the  working-class  seemed  to 
be  taking  place  as  a  result  of  sociahst  activity,  and  1889 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch  in  Enghsh  trade 
unionism.  The  unions  had  lost  nearly  all  of  their  old 
ideahsm  and  humanitarian  sentiment.  They  had  become 
little  more  than  societies  for  mutual  aid,  content  to  pro- 
tect themselves  in  their  own  trades,  leaving  the  rest  of  the 
working-class  to  struggle  without  organization  for  the 
barest  necessaries  of  Hfe.  John  Burns  and  Tom  Mann, 
imbued  with  socialist  idealism,  began  a  bitter  campaign 
against  the  narrow  exclusive  policy  of  this  aristocracy  of 
labor.  "How  long, how  long,"  Tom  Mann  demands  of  the 
trade  unionists,  "  will  you  be  content  with  the  present 
half-hearted  policy  of  your  unions  }  I  readily  grant  that 
good  work  has  been  done  in  the  past,  but;  in  Heaven's 
name,  what  good  purpose  are  they  serving  now  ?  All 
of  them  have  large  numbers  out  of  employment  even 
when  their  particular  trade  is  busy.  None  of  the  impor- 
tant societies  have  any  policy  other  than  that  of  endeav- 
oring to  keep  wages  from  falling.  The  true  unionist 
policy  of  aggression  seems  entirely  lost  sight  of.  In 
fact,  the  average  unionist  of  to-day  is  a  man  with  a  fos- 
silized intellect,  either  hopelessly  apathetic,  or  support- 
ing a  policy  that  plays  directly  into  the  hands  of  the 
capitalist  exploiter." 

John  Burns  was  no  less  vehement  in  his  attacks, 
"Constituted  as  it  is,"  he  writes,  in  September,  1887, 
"  unionism  carries  within  itself  the  source  of  its  own 
dissolution.  ,  .  .  Their  reckless  assumption  of  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  that  only  the  state  or  whole  com- 


THE  BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  93 

munity  can  discharge,  in  the  nature  of  sick  and  super- 
annuation benefits,  is  crushing  out  the  larger  unions  by- 
taxing  their  members  to  an  unbearable  extent.  This  so 
cripples  them  that  the  fear  of  not  being  able  to  discharge 
their  friendly  society  liabilities  often  makes  them  sub- 
mit to  encroachments  by  the  masters  without  protest. 
The  result  of  this  is  that  all  of  them  have  ceased  to  be 
unions  for  maintaining  the  rights  of  labor,  and  have 
degenerated  into  mere  middle  and  upper  class  rate-re- 
ducing institutions." 

But  the  attitude  of  the  socialists  was  not  solely  a  nega- 
tive one.  In  July,  1888,  the  misery  and  suffering  of  the 
girls  employed  in  making  lucifer  matches  aroused  the 
indignation  of  Mrs.  Annie  Besant,  one  of  the  most  brill- 
iant women  in  England,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
working  with  the  Fabians.  Finally  her  agitation  caused 
these  unfortunate  women  to  revolt,  but  without  funds  or 
organization  their  struggle  seemed  utterly  hopeless. 
As  a  result,  however,  of  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Besant  and 
Mr.  Herbert  Burrows,  the  appalHng  conditions  existing 
in  this  trade  were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  pubUc, 
and  several  hundred  pounds  were  subscribed  to  support 
the  strike,  until  finally  the  employers  were  forced  to 
make  some  concessions.  Burns  was  then  leading  the 
gasworkers,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  unorganized, 
in  a  successful  battle  against  their  employers,  and  as  a 
result  they  obtained  an  eight-hour  day  and  an  increase 
in  wages. 

The  success  of  these  two  strikes  of  the  most  miserable 
workers  in  London  gave  a  tremendous  impetus  to  the 
struggle  for  a  wider  and  more  inclusive  unionism  ;  and 
they  were  followed  by  an  even  more  notable  victory. 
For  two  years  prominent  London  sociaHsts  had  been 


94     •  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

agitating  among  the  dockers,  whose  condition  was  per- 
haps the  most  hopeless  of  EngUsh  workmen.  The 
trade  was  so  badly  organized  that  none  of  the  laborers 
received  more  than  a  few  hours  work  each  day,  and  the 
wages  were  so  low  that  only  casual  workmen,  semi- 
vagrants,  and  single  men  could  remain  at  such  employ- 
ment. Ben  Tillett,  a  laborer  in  one  of  the  warehouses, 
was  attempting  the  apparently  hopeless  task  of  organiz- 
ing these  workers.  The  new  union  made  little  progress, 
but  despite  that  fact  the  conditions  became  so  unbear- 
able that  in  August,  1889,  a  strike  was  declared.  Tom 
Mann,  at  the  very  height  of  his  power,  and  John  Burns 
went  to  the  assistance  of  Tillett.  They  worked  night 
and  day,  and  by  assembling  every  morning  near  the  old 
London  Tower  a  hundred  thousand  starving  strikers, 
they  managed  to  dissuade  them  from  abandoning  what 
seemed  to  be  a  hopeless  conflict.  For  four  weeks  the 
greatest  port  in  the  world  was  completely  paralyzed. 
The  big,  enthusiastic  Tom  Mann,  with  his  gifted  elo- 
quence and  religious  faith  in  the  cause  of  the  workers, 
awakened  in  ail  classes  a  sympathetic  interest  in  the 
dockers.  For  perhaps  the  first  time  in  England  there 
was  general  disapproval  when  the  companies  attempted 
to  obtain  scabs  to  replace  the  strikers,  and  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  million  dollars  was  subscribed  by  the  pub- 
He  to  support  the  strike.  With  this  large  fund  at  their 
disposal,  the  leaders  established  an  elaborate  system  of 
strike  pay,  and  finally  the  united  pressure  from  editors, 
clergymen,  shareholders,  shipowners,  and  merchants 
enabled  Cardinal  Manning  and  other  prominent  English- 
men to  effect  a  conciliation,  the  men  being  conceded 
most  of  their  demands. 

In  the   same  decade   the   Fabians  were   developing 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  95 

their  own  method  of  forwarding  socialism.  They  were 
meeting  in  some  of  the  most  aristocratic  rooms  in  Lon- 
don. "Our  favorite  sport,"  Bernard  Shaw  says,  "was 
inviting  politicians  and  economists  to  lecture  to  us, 
and  then  falling  upon  them  with  all  our  erudition  and 
debating  skill,  and  making  them  wish  they  had  never 
been  born."  A  well-known  member  of  parliament, 
who  was  lured  into  their  web  on  one  of  those  occasions, 
afterward  wrote  a  furious  article,  entitled  "Butchered 
to  make  a  Fabian  holiday."  In  1888  twenty-eight  Fab- 
ians sent  postcards  to  convince  the  newly  born  "Star" 
newspaper  that  London  was  aflame  with  socialism. 
The  ruse  worked  successfully,  and  as  a  result  the 
"Star"  became  a  Fabian  organ,  with  one  of  the  ablest 
editors  in  England  writing  socialist  leaders.  However, 
the  capitalist  proprietors  soon  discovered  that  the  inter- 
est in  socialism  was  still  limited  to  a  small  group,  and 
the  Fabians  were  cleared  out. 

Nevertheless  the  society  was  making  a  profound  im- 
pression upon  the  old  parties.*  Instead  of  limiting  their 
activity  to  socialist  circles  the  members  joined  as  many 
liberal  and  radical  associations  as  possible.  By  con- 
stantly moving  resolutions  they  did  excellent  work  in 
education,  and  created  a  general  impression  of  a  wide- 
spread socialist  sentiment.  Graham  Wallas  formed  in 
London  the  Metropolitan  Radical  Federation,  represent- 
ing working  men's  clubs,  having  a  total  membership  of 
25,000,  and  under  his  direction  they  adopted  a  program 
which  embodied  nearly  all  the  Fabian  proposals.  By 
persistently  attending  all  political  meetings  and  besieg- 
ing with  questions  nearly  every  liberal  candidate,  they 
finally  developed  a  group  of  progressives  in  the  liberal 

*  See  also  p.  204. 


96  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

party  who  were  willing  to  accept  most  of  the  immediate 
program  of  the  socialists. 

British  socialism  at  this  time  was  making  splendid 
progress  among  the  middle  class.  A  great  number  of 
groups  were  organized,  drawing-room  meetings  were 
held,  and  even  at  the  universities  circles  were  formed  to 
study  socialism.  A  number  of  propagandists  were  at 
work  in  the  churches,  and  as  a  result  "  The  Christian 
Socialist  Society"  and  "St.  Matthew's  Guild"  were 
formed,  both  of  which  adopted  a  Christian-SociaHst 
program.  In  the  provinces  the  movement  was  making 
headway  among  the  Dissenters,  while  in  London  at  one 
time  there  was  a  group  of  over  forty  clergymen,  nearly 
all  of  whom  were  socialists,  working  to  bring  to  the 
attention  of  the  upper  classes  the  miserable  condition 
of  the  people.  In  fact,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  social- 
ism was  winning  its  most  enthusiastic  adherents  among 
the  educated  classes,  and  in  addition  to  the  prominent 
men  already  mentioned  as  the  founders  of  socialist 
organizations,  Grant  Allen,  the  scientist,  and  Professor 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace  announced  themselves  as  con- 
verts. 

The  times  were  stirring,  and  seemed  to  be  of  good 
promise  for  the  rapid  rise  of  British  socialism.  Unfor- 
tunately this  was  a  forlorn  hope.  The  working-class  for 
the  most  part  remained  inert,  and  the  middle-class 
leaders  were  quarrelling  among  themselves.  Morris 
and  his  followers  broke  away  from  the  Federation  early 
in  the  eighties  and  formed  the  Socialist  League.  The 
Fabian  Society,  which  from  the  beginning  had  opposed 
the  policy  of  the  social  democrats,  doubted  the  wisdom 
or  necessity  of  an  independent  poHtical  party.  Annie 
Besant,  who  had  done  such  splendid  work  among  the 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  97 

women,  withdrew  from  the  Fabians,  and  Burns  and 
Mann,  who  had  almost  accomplished  the  difficult  task 
of  uniting  the  middle-class  socialists  with  the  new  union- 
ism, resigned  from  the  Social  Democratic  Federation. 
By  the  unfortunate  loss  of  these  two  men  the  Federa- 
tion suffered  seriously  as  a  revolutionary  influence  among 
the  workers. 

There  were  at  this  period  two  fundamental  weak- 
nesses in  British  socialism :  lack  of  unity,  and  the  in- 
capacity of  the  leaders  to  bring  the  workers  into  a 
socialist  organization.  In  nearly  every  other  country 
some  one  has  arisen  who  has  been  able  to  unite  the 
various  factions  upon  a  common  program  and  method 
of  action.  Unfortunately  in  England  there  was  at  this 
time  no  such  leader,  and  the  groups  became  more  and 
more  widely  divided.  The  leaders  were  all  middle-class 
men  of  great  ability,  of  unquestionable  sincerity,  mak- 
ing every  sacrifice  to  promote  sociaHsm  ;  but  their  views 
and  tactics  differed  so  profoundly  that  harmony  was 
out  of  the  question. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  despite  these  divisions 
important  work  was  done  in  spreading  socialist  ideas, 
which  unfortunately,  however,  seemed  to  make  no  con- 
siderable impression  upon  the  working-class.  Morris 
early  recognized  this  weakness,  and  when  he  left  the 
Federation,  he  said,  "  I  cannot  forego  the  hope  of  our 
forming  a  socialist  party  which  shall  begin  to  act  in 
our  own  time  instead  of  a  mere  theoretical  association 
in  a  private  room,  with  no  hope  but  that  of  gradually 
permeating  cultivated  people  with  our  ozvn  aspirations.'* 
In  this  utterance  he  struck  upon  the  fundamental  defect 
in  British  socialism  during  the  eighties.  Jaures,  in  the 
great  debate  at  Amsterdam,  expressed  a  similar  view 

H 


98  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

when  he  said  that  in  his  belief  socialism  had  not  made 
headway  in  England  because  from  the  beginning  it  had 
not  been  sufficiently  in  contact  with  the  actual  life  or 
with  the  needs  of  the  working-class.  Not  only  Morris, 
but  many  other  English  sociaHsts  realized  this  weakness 
of  the  movement,  and  efforts  were  made  to  penetrate 
into  the  unions ;  but  this  is  almost  impossible  in  Eng- 
land for  middle-class  men. 

As  a  result  of  the  gulf  between  the  socialists  and  the 
workers,  socialist  ideas  underwent  a  peculiar  develop- 
ment in  London.  The  Fabians  evolved  an  original 
philosophy  that  the  middle  and  upper  classes  are  the 
revolutionary  element  in  society,  and  the  proletariat  the 
conservative  element;  and  therefore,  as  Bernard  Shaw 
says,  they  went  to  work  "  to  place  socialism  upon  a 
respectable  bourgeois  footing."  The  social  democrats, 
on  the  other  hand,  became  more  and  more  revolutionary 
in  their  phrases,  and  more  and  more  narrow  in  their  sec- 
tarianism. Failing  to  effect  a  great  political  organization, 
they  became  almost  anarchistic  in  tactics,  "  It  will 
only  need  a  compact  minority,"  their  organ  declared, 
"  to  take  advantage  of  some  opportune  accident,  that 
will  assuredly  occur,  to  overthrow  the  present  system, 
and  once  for  all  lift  the  toilers  from  their  present  social 
degradation."  During  this  period  the  social  democrats 
seemed  to  be'expecting  at  any  moment  to  see  capitalism 
disintegrate  of  itself,  and  they  cherished  the  fond  hope 
that  after  the  catastrophe  the  workers  would  take  indus- 
trial operations  into  their  own  hands  and  administer  them 
for  the  welfare  of  all.  By  becoming  more  and  more 
absorbed  in  this  philosophy  of  economic  fatalism  the 
Federation  grew  intolerant  of  the  activities  of  the  trade 
unionists  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Fabians  on  the  other. 


THE   BRITISH    LABOR   PARTY  99 

It  is,  of  course,  evident  that  middle-class  leaders  alone 
cannot  make  a  sound  socialist  movement.  Nevertheless 
the  propaganda  during  the  eighties  and  nineties  was 
extraordinarily  effective.  There  was  little  work  done  in 
organizing  the  movement  on  broader  lines,  but  it  is  un- 
questionable that  socialist  ideas  were  making  great 
headway.  In  this  phase  of  socialist  activity  the  Social 
Democratic  Federation  played  a  leading  part.  It  was 
not  able  to  move  the  working-class  as  a  body,  but  it 
schooled  some  of  the  most  capable  men  in  the  labor 
movement ;  and  by  constantly  lecturing  and  campaign- 
ing it  acquainted  a  vast  number  of  earnest  young  men 
and  women  with  the  economic  doctrines  of  socialism. 
Fabian  groups,  branches  of  the  political  bodies,  and 
labor  churches  were  organized  through  the  country. 
The  Land  Nationalization  Society  was  carrying  on  a 
vigorous  campaign  of  education,  and  the  lecturing  vans 
of  the  Land  Restoration  League  were  sent  throughout 
the  rural  districts,  carrying  speakers  and  literature. 

About  the  same  time  the  "  Clarion,"  the  best  edited 
journal  and  perhaps  the  most  effective  organ  of  social- 
ist propaganda,  was  started  by  Robert  Blatchford  and 
a  group  of  his  friends,  all  of  whom  were  able  journalists. 
For  a  time  each  of  them  wrote  under  a  noni  de  phinie : 
Robert  Blatchford  as  "  Nunquam,"  E.  F.  Fay  as  "  The 
Bounder,"  Alex.  Thompson  as  "  Dangle,"  and  Montague 
Blatchford  as  "  Mont  Blong.",  The  journal  met  with  a 
warm  reception  throughout  all  England,  and  Clarion 
Cycle  Clubs  and  other  organizations  were  started  for 
propaganda  purposes.  It  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
estimate  the  value  of  the  "  Clarion"  in  these  early  days 
of  the  movement.  It  created  an  enthusiasm  of  an  en- 
tirely new  order,  not  only  among  the  working  men,  but 


I(X>  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

among  journalists  and  others  fond  of  good  literature.  Its 
readers  wereentranced  by  the  "  Unsentimentaljourneys  " 
of  the  jovial,  big-hearted  Bounder;  the  lilting,  satirical 
lyrics  of  Mont  Blong ;  and  they  found  a  new  interest  in 
comedy  and  drama  under  the  tutelage  of  Dangle,  re- 
cently in  New  York  in  the  interests  of  his  two  plays 
"Tom  Jones  "  and  "  The  Dairymaids."  Above  all  their 
hearts  were  touched  and  their  enthusiasm  was  fired  by 
the  wonderfully  simple,  charmingly  written  articles  of 
Nunquam.  His  writings  are  perhaps  more  eagerly 
read  than  those  of  any  other  English  author.  His  "  Mer- 
rie  England,"  giving  the  economics  of  socialism,  sold 
upward  of  a  milUon,  and  "  Britain  for  the  British,"  a 
similar  book,  has  been  read  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 
When  I  was  in  London  in  1899,  I  found  many  circles 
of  influential  people  discussing  socialism.  The  Fabians 
were  absorbed  in  municipal  affairs  and  in  their  efforts 
to  permeate  the  Liberal  Party  with  socialist  ideas,  but  miss- 
ing no  opportunity  to  lecture  and  laugh  at  each  other  and 
everybody  else.  There  was  also  a  small  group  of  the 
Independent  Labor  Party,  an  organization  founded  by 
Keir  Hardie  in  the  early  nineties,  with  its  strength  mostly 
in  the  provinces.  It  was  serious,  hard  at  work,  and,  ap- 
parently without  reason,  hopeful  for  the  future.  I  saw 
a  good  deal  of  John  Burns.  He  had  broken  away  from 
all  socialist  bodies,  and  was  busy  in  parliament  and  in 
the  London  County  Council ;  but  he  was  making  no  ef- 
fort to  form  a  movement  among  the  workers,  and  indeed 
quite  frankly  without  hope  that  one  could  be  formed.  I 
saw  a  few  members  of  the  Social  Democratic  Federation. 
Their  movement,  then  nearly  twenty  years  old,  was 
standing  still,  and  nearly  all  the  London  members  were 
bitter  and  disheartened.     So  far  as  I  could  see  there  was 


THE   BRITISH    LABOR   PARTY  10 1 

no  movement  of  consequence.  The  various  sections  did 
not  like  each  other,  the  propertied  interests  looked  upon 
socialism  without  alarm,  and  evidently  the  working-class 
was  fighting  shy  of  it.  Later  in  the  summer  I  attended 
the  conference  of  the  Social  Democratic  Federation  at 
Manchester,  but  I  was  not  led  to  change  my  con- 
clusion. 

In  fact,  it  was  not  until  I  spent  a  few  days  with  Keir 
Hardie  at  his  home  in  Scotland  that  I  began  to  think 
my  estimate  of  the  socialist  movement  was  wrong.  Late 
one  afternoon  I  arrived  at  Old  Cumnock,  and  was  met  at 
the  station  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hardie.  As  night  came  on, 
with  a  fine,  full  harvest  moon,  they  took  me  for  a  walk ; 
and  after  listening  to  my  rather  despondent  remarks 
concerning  the  failure  of  British  sociahsm,  Hardie  said : 
"  But  you  have  only  seen  London,  and  every  one  who 
breathes  the  air  of  London  loses  hope.  If  you  want  to 
see  the  socialist  movement,  spend  some  time  in  the  prov- 
inces, and  you  will  see  that  everywhere  socialism  is 
making  headway." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Hardie  had  made  socialism  a 
thing  of  consequence  among  the  workers  outside  of 
London.  He  early  saw  the  necessity  for  uniting  into 
one  political  organization  the  trade  unions  with  their 
million  and  a  half  adherents,  the  cooperatives  with 
their  million  members,  and  the  various  municipal  or- 
ganizations working  on  a  program  of  vital  interest  to 
the  workers.  Hardie  and  his  friends  of  the  provinces 
were  convinced  that  by  working  persistently  among 
these  organizations  they  could  bring  them  all  together 
into  a  political  party.  In  this  work  he  was  joined 
by  Tom  Mann,  who  with  John  Burns  had  been  grad- 
ually breaking   down  the  conservatism    of   the    British 


102  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

trade  unions,  and  had  at  their  Liverpool  congress  in 
1890  scored  a  great  victory  for  the  newer  ideas. 

Hardie  had  for  years  been  quietly  at  work  among 
the  unions  of  the  north.  He  was  born  almost  in  the 
mines,  having  gone  to  work  underground  at  seven 
years  of  age.  He  never  had  a  day's  schooling,  but  his 
mother  taught  him  to  read  when  he  was  so  young 
that  he  cannot  remember  when  he  could  not  read. 
When  quite  a  youth,  he  began  reforming  as  a 
temperance  advocate,  and  although  without  interest 
in  the  union  movement  he  was  induced  to  become  the 
secretary  of  a  miners'  organization,  because  he  was  the 
only  one  who  could  write  the  minutes  and  properly  pre- 
pare the  papers.  As  soon  as  the  employers  discovered 
that  this  youth  was  the  secretary  of  the  union  he  was 
discharged,  and  he  came,  in  a  very  practical  way,  face 
to  face  with  economic  problems.  This  act  of  the  em- 
ployers made  Hardie  a  labor  agitator,  and  gave  to  the 
workers  of  England  the  most  powerful,  consistent,  pa- 
tient, and  painstaking  leader  the  movement  has  known. 

But  this  Scotch  miner  "  could  not  long  be  the  voice  of 
the  wronged  and  bruised  labor  of  the  mines  alone,"  as 
John  Spargo  has  so  eloquently  said.  "Whoso  would 
cry  for  one  single  toiler's  weal  must  cry  equally  for  all. 
There  is  no  weal  for  any  while  there  is  woe  for  any. 
Keir  had  not  come  to  that,  but  when  the  docker  ap- 
pealed to  him,  he  became  the  docker's  voice.  And 
when  the  seeker  for  work,  tired  of  seeking  in  vain,  beck- 
oned with  wasted  finger,  Keir  answered  and  straight- 
way became  the  voice  of  the  workless  one's  woe.  Then 
Keir  realized  that  the  wrong  of  the  miner  and  the 
wrong  of  the  docker  and  the  wrong  of  the  workless 
one  were  the  same  wrong.     So  Keir  became  a  socialist. 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  IO3 

He  was  the  voice  of  toil  in  the  street,  by  the  dockyard 
gate,  in  the  market-place,  —  he  became  the  voice  of  toil 
in  the  parliament  of  the  exploiters  of  toil.  It  needed 
Courage,  and  it  needed  Faith,  and  Keir  lacked  neither 
the  Faith  nor  the  Courage.  Sometimes  Labor  was  afraid 
of  its  own  voice  —  afraid  of  Keir;  and  when  he  cried 
aloud  for  Peace,  and  shouted  defiance  to  the  red  dragon 
of  war,  miner  and  docker  and  workless  one  cried  out 
against  Keir  with  a  voice  not  their  own  and  would  have 
stoned  him  —  would  have  stilled  their  own  voice.  But 
Keir's  Strength  and  Courage  and  Faith  increased ;  he 
voiced  wronged  and  bruised  and  blinded  Labor's  woes 
in  spite  of  its  own  unfaith  and  ignorance  and  fear." 

At  the  Trade  Union  Congress  held  in  Bradford  in 
1892,  Hardie  gathered  about  him  a  small  group  of 
working  men  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  labor  party. 
His  idea  was  at  that  time,  as  it  has  been  ever  since,  to 
unite  all  the  workers  into  an  independent  political  move- 
ment. He  found  it  increasingly  difficult  to  believe  in 
the  value  of  socialism  without  any  labor  party  to  ac- 
cept it.  He  was  entirely  of  the  view  of  Wilhelm  Lieb- 
knecht,  who  once  declared  that  "  it  is  crazy  tactics  for 
a  working  men's  party  to  seclude  itself  away  up  above 
the  workers  in  a  theoretic  aircastle,  for  without  work- 
ing men  there  can  be  no  working  men's  party,  and  the 
laborers  we  must  take  as  we  find  them."  Many  of  the 
socialists  opposed  Hardie  in  this  work,  and  he  once  said 
rather  bitterly,  "  It  is  remarkable  that  the  only  serious 
opposition  we  have  had  to  encounter  has  come  from 
the  men  who  ought  to  have  occupied  an  inner  place 
in  our  councils.  It  has  been  said  that  the  words 
of  the  apostate  are  ever  the  harshest ;  and  we  are  ex- 
periencing the  truth  of  that." 


104  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

Nevertheless  the  I.  L.  P.,  as  it  is  now  called,  was 
organized,  and  began  almost  immediately  to  make 
headway  in  the  provinces.  Upon  the  birth  of  the  new 
party,  Tom  Maguire,  a  working  man,  a  poet,  and  one 
of  the  most  lovable  spirits  in  the  British  movement, 
wrote  to  Edward  Carpenter :  "  As  you  may  not  have 
heard,  be  it  mine  to  mention  that  now  the  mountain, 
so  long  in  labor,  has  been  delivered  of  its  mouse  —  a 
bright,  active,  cheery  little  mouse,  with  just  a  touch 
of  venom  in  its  sharp  little  teeth.  .  .  .  To  come  to 
the  point,  an  Independent  Labor  Party  is  born  unto 
us  —  long  may  it  wave.  You  will  find  in  your  travels 
that  this  new  party  lifts  its  head  all  over  the  north.  It 
has  caught  the  people  as  I  imagine  the  Chartist  move- 
ment did.  And  it  is  of  the  people  ;  such  will  be  the 
secret  of  its  success.  Everywhere  its  bent  is  socialist, 
because  socialists  are  the  only  people  who  have  a  mes- 
sage for  it."  Many  of  its  members  at  the  succeeding 
elections  were  carried  to  local  governing  bodies,  and 
the  party  won  to  its  cause  not  only  the  strongest  of  the 
younger  men  in  the  labor  movement,  but  a  large  num- 
ber of  disinterested  and  loyal  friends  outside  the  work- 
ing-class. 

The  new  movement  early  demonstrated,  what  had 
been  doubted  before  in  many  quarters,  that  a  third 
party  could  become  an  effective  power  in  British  poli- 
tics. The  doubt  that  a  labor  party  could  get  a  footing 
was  due  in  part  to  the  failure  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Federation  in  its  electoral  struggles.  In  1885  it  had 
run  two  candidates  in  London.  Mr.  Williams  in 
Hampstead  got  27  votes,  and  Mr.  Fielding  in  Ken- 
sington 32  votes.  This  wretched  showing  proved  a 
disaster  to   the    socialist   movement.     The    Federation 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  I05 

lost  many  of  its  members,  and  some  extremists  repu- 
diated political  action  altogether.  The  English  feeling 
at  that  time  was  similar  to  that  which  still  exists  among 
a  great  many  radicals  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
recently  expressed  rather  bitterly  in  an  editorial  in  the 
single-tax  weekly  of  Chicago,  "  The  Public."  "  Under 
the  present  electoral  machinery,"  runs  the  editorial, 
"  the  socialist  party  can  no  more  become  a  dominant 
or  even  a  second  party  than  a  cabbage  can  become  a  cow. 
They  cannot  continue  to  draw  their  own  vote.  Machine 
politicians  understand  this,  and  are  accordingly  indiffer- 
ent to  side-party  voting."  This  is  a  vigorous  expression 
of  what  seemed  to  be  the  view  of  many  English  social- 
ists in  the  eighties  and  early  nineties. 

Among  others  the  Fabians  had  condemned  the  third- 
party  idea.  It  was,  therefore,  of  immense  importance 
to  socialism  when  the  victories  of  the  I.  L.  P.  proved 
that  a  third  party  could  become  a  political  force. 
Almost  immediately  after  its  formation  one  of  its 
candidates  ran  in  opposition  to  both  Liberal  and  Tory 
candidates,  and  after  a  short  and  brilUant  campaign 
succeeded  in  polling  over  1400  votes.  Scarcely  a  by- 
election  took  place  in  an  industrial  constituency  in 
which  the  I.  L.  P.  did  not  carry  on  an  active  campaign. 
At  the  General  Election  of  1895  all  of  its  parliamentary 
candidates,  including  Hardie,  were  defeated,  but  the 
total  vote  ran  up  to  nearly  50,000,  which  meant  that 
the  I.  L.  P  was  proving  to  be,  even  at  this  early  date, 
a  disturbing  political  factor.  In  municipal  elections 
it  made  distinct  gains.  In  Glasgow,  Bradford,  and 
other  places,  it  elected  representatives  to  the  munici- 
pal councils,  to  the  School  Boards,  the  County  Coun- 
cils, Parish  Councils,  and  Vestries.     From  that  time  on 


I06  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

independent  political  action  was  recognized  as  one  of 
the  most  effective  ways  of  demonstrating  socialist 
strength. 

The  I.  L.  P.  was  unquestionably  the  strongest  sociahst 
organization  in  Great  Britain  at  the  time  I  was  visiting 
Hardie.  But  he  was  dissatisfied.  He  said  the  unions 
had  not  come  into  the  movement  as  he  had  hoped,  and 
the  cooperatives  were  entirely  out  of  it;  above  all,  the 
various  socialist  organizations  were  not  united.  It  was 
not  his  purpose  merely  to  start  a  new  political  associa- 
tion to  compete  with  the  other  socialist  bodies.  He 
considered  the  first  and  most  important  work  to  be  done 
was  to  take  all  unions,  cooperatives,  and  other  labor 
organizations  out  of  the  Liberal  and  Tory  parties,  and 
to  have  them  form  an  independent  political  body.  He 
reahzed  that  in  the  beginning  this  organization  could 
hardly  be  socialist,  but  he  was  confident  that  inasmuch 
as  socialism  expressed  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the 
working-class,  an  independent  political  movement  un- 
dertaken by  the  workers  themselves  must,  in  the  end, 
become  socialist.  Hardie  was  at  the  time  at  work  on 
this  larger  and  more  inclusive  organization,  but  it  had 
hardly  assumed  form  when  I  bade  him  good-by  in 
1899. 

Returning  to  England  in  1903,  I  went  to  see  Hardie 
at  his  rooms  in  London.  He  lives  in  an  old  court 
reminiscent  of  bygone  centuries,  in  the  very  garret  of  a 
fourteenth-century  house.  In  this  quaint  old  place  he 
spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  rising  labor  movement,  and 
indeed,  a  new  stage  was  developing  in  British  socialism. 
The  trade  unions  had  decided  at  their  congress  in  1899 
to  call  a  conference  on  labor  representation  in  parHament, 
In    February,    1900,   a   large  meeting  was  held  of  the 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY 


107 


representatives  of  nearly  all  of  the  most  important  labor 
organizations  in  the  country,  and  of  the  three  socialist 
organizations.  As  a  result  it  was  decided  that  labor  can- 
didates should  be  run  for  parliament  on  a  footing  inde- 
pendent of  the  two  old  political  parties.  Unfortunately 
the  committee  had  to  face  a  general  election  when  only 
a  few  months  old,  and  as  nearly  all  of  the  candidates 
had  opposed  the  Boer  War,  and  as  jingoism  still  ran 
high,  they  were  only  successful  in  electing  two  candi- 
dates, Richard  Bell  and  Keir  Hardie.  However,  several 
by-elections  were  won,  which  made  a  profound  impres- 
sion upon  the  country.  The  movement  was  taking 
definite  form,  and  Hardie  prophesied  that  at  the  next 
general  election  at  least  twenty-seven  labor  men,  the 
majority  of  them  socialists,  would  be  returned  to  parlia- 
ment. 

But  it  was  not  the  propaganda  of  the  socialists  alone 
that  forced  the  inert  unions  into  poHtics.  It  was  to  no 
small  degree  the  result  of  an  attack  upon  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  trade  union  movement.  A  decision  of 
the  courts,  now  known  to  history  as  the  Taff  Vale 
decision,  threw  the  entire  trade  union  movement  into  a 
state  of  excitement  and  dismay.  The  Taff  Vale  Railway 
Company  had  sued  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Rail- 
way Servants  for  having  conspired  to  induce  the  work- 
men to  break  their  contracts,  and  also  with  having 
conspired  to  interfere  with  the  traffic  of  the  company  by 
picketing  and  other  alleged  unlawful  means.  A  promi- 
nent justice  granted  an  injunction  against  the  society, 
and  while  this  was  later  reversed  by  the  Court  of  Appeal, 
the  House  of  Lords  finally  sanctioned  the  decision  as 
at  first  rendered.  It  decided  that  a  trade  union  might 
be  sued,  and  as  a  result  of  the  suit  the  railway  union 


I08  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

was  forced  to  pay  damages  to  the  amount  of  over 
;^  1 00,000.  This  verdict  was  staggering,  and  the  unions 
saw  very  clearly  that  unless  something  was  done  to 
alter  the  situation  their  movement  would  be  destroyed. 
According  to  the  English  law,  the  decision  practically 
amounted  to  new  legislation  against  the  unions,  and  a 
nullification  of  the  old  rights  which  had  been  won  in 
1 87 1.  There  was  a  tremendous  agitation  among  the 
unions,  and  they  immediately  set  to  work  to  find  ways 
and  means  of  exerting  their  political  power  upon  parlia- 
ment, from  which  they  demanded  a  new  law  which 
would  give  them  again  the  rights  they  had  enjoyed  pre- 
vious to  the  Taff  Vale  decision.  This  attack  upon  the 
unions,  coming  as  it  did  at  the  very  climax  of  the 
socialist  agitation  for  a  working  men's  political  move- 
ment, gave  an  immense  impulse  to  the  organization  then 
taking  form. 

The  new  party  first  came  into  existence  under  the 
form  of  the  Labor  Representation  Committee  of  the 
Trade  Union  Congress,  but  as  the  movement  developed, 
it  took  the  name  of  The  Labor  Party  of  Great  Britain. 
It  is  a  federation  of  trade  unions,  trades  councils,  social- 
ist societies,  cooperative  societies,  and  local  labor  associa- 
tions. All  members  elected  under  its  auspices  are  paid 
an  equal  sum  not  to  exceed  $1000  per  annum,  but  this 
payment  is  made  only  to  those  members  whose  candi- 
datures have  been  promoted  by  societies  which  have 
contributed  to  the  funds.  Absolute  independence  of 
both  the  old  parties  is  enforced  upon  those  elected,  and 
absolute  loyalty  to  the  constitution  and  rules  of  the  party 
is  insisted  upon.  In  the  short  time  of  its  existence,  it 
has  grown  to  a  membership  of  over  one  million.  In 
other  words,  this  enormous  number  of  voters  severed 


THE  BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  lOQ 

their  connection  finally  with  the  two  old  parties,  and  the 
only  candidates  who  could  hope  to  obtain  their  support 
in  the  parliamentary  election  were  those  pledged  to  the 
principles  and  objects  of  the  Labor  Party.  The  object, 
as  defined  in  the  constitution,  is  to  organize  and  maintain 
a  parliamentary  group  with  its  own  whips  and  policy, 
and  to  secure  the  election  of  candidates  for  whose  can- 
didatures affiliated  societies  have  made  themselves  respon- 
sible financially,  and  who  have  been  selected  by  regularly 
convened  conferences  in  their  respective  constituencies. 
Candidates  must  accept  the  constitution ;  agree  to  abide 
by  the  decisions  of  the  parliamentary  party  in  carrying 
out  the  aims  of  this  constitution ;  appear  before  their 
constituencies  under  the  title  of  Labor  Candidates  only ; 
abstain  strictly  from  identifying  themselves  with  or 
promoting  the  interests  of  any  party  not  eligible  for 
affiUation  ;  and  they  must  not  oppose  any  candidate 
recognized  by  the  executive  committee  of  the  party. 
Candidates  must  also  join  the  parliamentary  labor  group 
if  elected. 

The  independence  of  the  party  should  not  be  con- 
fused with  what  is  known  on  the  Continent  as  neu- 
trality. It  is  definitely  a  class  party  working  to  improve 
the  conditions  of  life  among  the  workers  of  Great 
Britain,  and  while  sections  of  the  Tory  and  Liberal 
parties  are  not  permitted  to  join,  all  the  socialist  bodies 
of  Great  Britain  are  welcomed.  Both  the  L  L.  P.  and 
the  Fabian  Society  are  at  present  affiliated,  and  their 
members  are  put  up  as  candidates  of  the  party.  In 
other  words,  it  is  independent  politically  of  all  except 
the  socialist  parties.  Indeed,  although  every  effort  has 
been  made  by  the  capitalist  papers  and  politicians  to 
create  a  division  between  what  they  call  the  socialist 


no  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

section  of  the  party  and  the  trade  union  section,  there 
is  no  real  distinction,  for  most  of  the  20,000  affiUated 
sociaUsts  belong  to  trade  unions  and  many  of  the 
975,000  affiliated  trade  unionists  are  also  socialists. 
The  strength  of  the  sociahsts  cannot,  therefore,  be 
measured  by  the  number  of  the  adherents  coming 
direct  from  the  socialist  groups.  For  instance,  out  of 
seven  candidates  successfully  promoted  and  financed  by 
the  I.  L.  P.,  three  of  them  were  trade  union  officials 
whose  societies  comprised  about  50,000  members,  and 
of  the  23  successful  candidates  put  up  by  the  trade 
unions  themselves,  10  were  leading  members  of  the 
I.  L.  P.  Altogether  13  members  of  parliament  are 
both  trade  unionists  and  members  of  the  I.  L.  P.,  and 
they  represent  trade  societies  with  a  total  of  330,000 
members.  Another  indication  of  the  unity  between  the 
two  sections  is  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  ablest 
militants  are  sociahsts.  The  chairman  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary Committee,  the  chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  and  the  chairman  of  the  Congress  are  all 
sociahsts,  and  of  the  members  of  the  new  Executive 
Committee  only  three  are  not  sociahsts.  In  addition  to 
these  evidences  of  socialist  strength,  a  large  majority 
of  the  candidates  selected  at  present  to  contest  new 
seats  in  the  next  general  election  are  well-known  social- 
ists.  It  is  with  complete  unity  between  the  sections 
that  the  Labor  Party  has  carried  on  its  electoral  cam- 
paigns. The  brilliant  results  are  known,  and,  at  the 
last  general  election,  29  working  men  were  returned 
to  parHament,  a  majority  of  them  socialists. 

It  was  a  great  achievement,  and  when  the  news  was 
cabled  round  the  world,  it  was  received  with  amaze- 
ment.      The    old    political    parties,    the    metropolitan 


THE   BRITISH    LABOR   PARTY  HI 

newspapers,  the  leaders  of  thought,  and  the  grave  and 
wise  governors  of  the  destinies  of  the  British  people 
could  not  understand.  It  seemed  incomprehensible 
that  such  a  movement  could  have  arisen,  could  have 
attained  such  proportions,  without  their  knowing  of  its 
existence.  British  labor  in  politics  !  Fifteen  or  twenty- 
socialists  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons !  It 
seemed  incredible.  Of  all  the  workers  in  the  world 
none  appeared  less  class-conscious,  less  imbued  with 
socialist  sentiment  or  revolutionary  ideals,  than  the 
British  working  man.  He  had  patiently  suffered  every 
injustice.  He  lived  in  frightful  conditions  of  squalor 
and  poverty,  and  when  old  age,  unemployment,  or 
serious  illness  deprived  him  of  a  livelihood,  he  and  his 
family  went  to  the  workhouse  or  subsisted  on  the 
meagre  rations  of  outdoor  relief.  His  submissiveness 
had  been  so  complete,  and  his  complaints  so  rare  and 
mild,  that  a  political  revolt  seemed  unbelievable.  It 
was  the  general  belief  that  the  grossly  immoral  thing 
called  socialism  would  never  appeal  to  the  Briton,  and 
the  governing  classes,  sure  that  it  never  would,  were 
almost  paralyzed.  The  working  man  had  severed  his 
connection  with  the  capitalist  parties,  and  what  they  had 
failed  to  give  him  as  a  matter  of  common  human  justice 
he  demanded  now  in  no  uncertain  way  by  sending  his 
own  representatives  into  parliament. 

With  these  things  in  mind,  I  went  to  the  Labor  Party 
congress  which  convened  at  Belfast  on  the  24th  of 
January,  1907.  There  I  found  350  delegates,  all  but 
half-a-dozen  of  whom  were  working  men,  who  had  come 
as  representatives  from  the  most  important  trade  unions 
in  Great  Britain.  It  was  a  most  significant  gathering,  — 
significant  because  it  represented  a  mass  movement  of 


112  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

the  manual  workers  to  express  politically  their  dis- 
content with  the  present  order.  In  combining  with 
almost  perfect  soHdarity  all  the  varied  working-class 
organizations  of  Great  Britain,  the  party  had  accom- 
plished a  remarkable  work,  the  importance  of  which, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  advance  of  socialism, 
could  not  be  exaggerated.  There  were  representatives 
from  practically  every  trade  —  miners,  iron  founders, 
steel  smelters,  engineers,  firemen,  gas  workers,  railway 
men,  dockers,  printers,  postmen,  textile  workers,  car- 
penters, bricklayers,  and  general  laborers,  and  as  a 
whole  they  represented  a  miUion  workers,  who  during 
the  last  seven  years  had  been  assembled  together  in 
the  independent  political  movement. 

Practically  every  one  in  the  assembly  had  come  from 
the  workshop.  Most  of  them  were  self-educated  men, 
who,  despite  the  hard  conditions  surrounding  their  early 
life,  had  fought  their  way  into  responsible  executive 
positions  in  their  powerful  organizations.  Nearly  all 
of  them  knew  the  evils  of  capitaHsm  at  first  hand. 
They  had  suffered  from  poverty,  unemployment,  insani- 
tary homes,  insanitary  workshops,  and  many  of  them 
had  begun  as  children  their  lives  of  labor  in  mills, 
mines,  and  factories.  And  yet  most  of  them  were  men 
of  capacity  and  ability.  Their  work  as  organizers  had 
schooled  them,  and  nearly  all  were  capable  debaters 
and  impressive  speakers.  Probably  in  no  other  class 
of  society  could  one  find  men  more  familiar  with  eco- 
nomic and  political  questions,  or  better  trained  in 
the  businesslike  methods  of  parliamentary  procedure. 
Some  of  them  administered  the  affairs  of  trade  organ- 
izations with  over  a  hundred  thousand  members,  and 
handled  year  in  and  year  out  hundreds  of  thousands 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY 


113 


of  pounds.  The  striking  growth  of  the  movement 
since  its  inception  in  1900  is  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing figures :  — 


Year 

Trade  Unions 

Socialist  Societies 

TnxAT 

No. 

Membership 

No. 

Membership 

I 900- I 
1901-2 
1902-3 
1903-4 
1904-5 
1905-6 
1906-7 
1907-8 

41 

65 
127 

165 
158 
158 
176 
181 

353.070 
455.450 

847.315 
956,025 

885,270 

904,496 

975,182 

1,049,673 

3 

2 

2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 

22,861 
13,861 

13.835 
13.775 
14.730 
16,784 
20,885 
22,267 

375.931 
469,311 
861,150 
969,800 
900,000 
921,280 

998,338* 
1,071,940 

*  This  total  includes  2271  cooperators. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  party  has  trebled  in  size  since 
its  beginning,  and  the  number  of  unions  affiliated  has 
increased  over  fourfold.  The  miners'  unions,  which 
have  fifteen  members  in  parliament  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Liberal  Party,  have  not  yet  decided  to  join  the 
independent  movement,  although  the  balloting  on  the 
question  last  year  was  very  close,  and  indicated  a  grow- 
ing sentiment  in  favor  of  affiliation.  The  only  defec- 
tion from  the  ranks  of  the  Labor  Party  since  its 
foundation  has  been  that  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Federation,  which  withdrew  in  1901  when  the  party 
declined  to  adopt  a  socialist  program. 

Impressive  as  the  gathering  was,  there  was  one  sig- 
nificant contrast  between  it  and  the  other  congresses 
abroad.  With  the  exception  of  Hardie,  Pete  Curran, 
Bruce  Glasier,  and  one  or  two  others,  none  of  the  most 
prominent   militants    of    the    socialist  movement    were 


I  14  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

in  attendance.  The  withdrawal  of  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Federation  prevented,  of  course,  the  attendance  of 
Hyndman,  Burrows,  Irving,  and  others  of  that  body, 
and  the  organization,  composed  as  it  is  almost  solely 
of  manual  workers,  has  not  thus  far  made  adequate 
provision  for  obtaining  the  active  and  enthusiastic  par- 
ticipation in  its  affairs  of  such  eminent  socialists  as 
Bernard  Shaw,  H.  G.  Wells,  Sidney  Webb,  Robert 
Blatchford,  and  a  host  of  writers,  professors,  econo- 
mists, and  clergymen  who  have  become  ardent  sym- 
pathizers. In  fact,  the  only  middle-class  socialists  who 
were  there  were  MacDonald,  Bruce  Glasier,  and  S.  G. 
Hobson,  from  the  I.  L.  P.,  and  Edward  Pease,  the  able 
secretary  of  the  Fabian  Society.  Thus  in  the  absence 
of  some  of  the  foremost  British  socialists  one  could 
hardly  think  of  the  Labor  Party  as  occupying  the  same 
position  in  Great  Britain  that  the  socialist  parties  occupy 
in  other  countries  ;  and  there  is  no  question  but  that 
the  movement  must  make  some  provision  for  unifying 
the  intellectual  with  the  manual  workers  if  it  wishes 
to  exercise  an  influence  equally  powerful  with  that  of 
the  continental  parties  over  the  thought  and  life  as  well 
as  over  the  institutions  of  the  community. 

The  first  day's  session  of  the  congress  was  exces- 
sively dull.  Only  details  of  organization  were  consid- 
ered, and  the  discussion  was  brief  and  uninteresting. 
It  also  was  a  decided  contrast  to  the  continental  assem- 
blies, as  indeed  all  British  meetings  are.  Britishers 
abhor  general  discussion,  and  their  meetings  are  or- 
ganized to  keep  the  assemblies  strictly  in  hand  and  to 
limit  rigidly  the  speaking  to  the  point  at  issue.  On 
the  continent  provision  is  made  for  thorough  general 
discussion  before  the  details  of  a  question  are  consid- 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  II5 

ered.  In  Germany  it  is  usually  thorough,  scientific, 
and  doctrinaire ;  in  France  and  Italy  it  is  the  oppor- 
tunity for  a  really  brilliant  play  of  wit,  humor,  and 
intellect.  To  one  of  the  Latin  temperament  every 
question  makes  an  appeal  both  to  his  reason  and  con- 
science. Necessarily  it  takes  time  to  obtain  an  agree- 
ment under  such  conditions,  but  it  is  a  great  incentive 
to  intellectual  life.  Over  a  matter  that  is  settled  in 
Great  Britain  after  a  few  five  or  ten  minute  speeches, 
the  Frenchmen  spend  hours  and  even  days  in  debate. 
The  question  is  examined  from  every  possible  point 
of  view,  and  in  its  relation  to  every  other  conceivable 
question.  And  when  one  has  been  living  for  some 
time  in  the  midst  of  men  keenly  enjoying  this  play 
of  intellect  and  emotion,  the  British  assembly  seems 
to  have  organized  out  of  existence  nearly  everything 
that  is  worth  while  in  a  conference.  A  long  speech  is 
not  tolerated,  and  unless  the  orator  is  exceptionally 
clever  he  dare  not  give  expression  to  his  emotion.  As 
a  result  of  such  parliamentary  traditions  the  congress 
of  the  Labor  Party  seemed  all  machinery  and  organi- 
zation, —  like  a  Lancashire  cotton  mill. 

There  was  little  of  importance  in  the  first  session, 
beyond  the  discussion  which  was  brought  up  by  a  resolu- 
tion of  the  executive  committee  to  increase  the  admin- 
istrative and  electoral  forces  now  employed  by  the 
committee,  so  as  to  enable  the  party  to  take  an  active  part 
in  municipal  elections,  and  the  report  of  Keir  Hardie  as 
chairman  of  the  parliamentary  group.  Hardie  showed 
that  labor  is  becoming  a  powerful  force  in  British  poli- 
tics. In  one  session  they  had  forced  through  parliament 
three  important  measures,  and  for  perhaps  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  labor  they  had  obtained  serious  consid- 


Il6  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

eration  for  all  their  proposals.  The  greatest  victory 
was,  of  course,  in  passing  the  Trades  Disputes  Bill,  which 
defined  anew  the  legal  position  of  the  trade  unions,  and 
reversed  entirely  the  Taff  Vale  decision.  A  bill  for  com- 
pensating workmen  injured  in  industry  was  also  passed, 
which  reahzed  a  great  gain  in  principle  as  well  as 
in  the  provision  made  for  those  rendered  incapable  of 
further  labor.  These  two  bills  were  directly  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  trade  unions,  and  another  bill  was  passed 
of  a  still  wider  social  bearing.  For  years  there  had 
been  agitation  to  provide  meals  for  necessitous  school 
children,  and  at  last  under  pressure  from  the  Labor  Party 
a  bill  was  passed  which  enables  the  local  authorities  to 
make  such  provision.  Hardie  was  justified  in  saying 
that  no  party  in  British  politics  ever  came  out  of  a  single 
session  with  a  better  record  of  good  work  accomplished. 
The  second  day  of  the  congress  was  largely  devoted  to 
a  discussion  upon  general  principles.  There  was  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  several  members  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Federation,  who  had  come  to  the  congress  as  trade 
unionists,  to  force  a  constitutional  amendment,  defining 
the  object  of  the  party  to  be  the  overthrow  of  the  pres- 
ent capitalist  system.  The  amendment  was  so  framed 
that  if  carried,  it  would  doubtless  have  split  the  party, 
and  have  forced  those  who  were  not  out  and  out 
socialists  to  withdraw  from  the  organization.  This 
naturally  called  forth  the  opposition  of  nearly  all  the 
socialists  who  had  been  working  for  years  to  build  up 
the  independent  political  movement.  The  executive  of 
the  party  asked  Pete  Curran,  an  old  militant,  to  oppose 
the  motion.  He  said  that  the  resolution,  if  carried,  would 
destroy  the  movement,  and  he  insisted  that  it  was  neither 
in  the  interest  of  solidarity  nor  in  the  interest  of  socialism 


THE   BRITISH    LABOR  PARTY  II7 

throughout  the  trade  unions  that  the  motion  had  been 
proposed.  This  was  very  much  the  line  of  discussion 
taken  by  the  ablest  socialists  at  the  congress,  although 
Hardie  regretted  that  the  motion  had  come  up  in  the  form 
that  it  had,  as  it  prevented  sociaHsm  being  discussed  on 
its  merits.  Many  good  sociahsts  present  who  would 
have  voted  for  a  socialist  statement,  would,  he  said, 
be  compelled  to  vote  against  the  proposed  amendment 
to  the  constitution.  As  the  socialists  voted  with  the 
other  organizations,  the  resolution  was  hopelessly  de- 
feated. 

The  last  day  of  the  congress  was  interesting  only  be- 
cause of  one  incident.  In  the  few  minutes  immediately 
before  the  close  of  the  session,  after  a  number  of  ques- 
tions had  been  hurriedly  voted  upon,  and  other  matters 
decided,  a  resolution  came  up  dealing  with  Women's 
Suffrage,  a  question  which  has  recently  been  brought  to 
the  front  by  a  campaign  of  sensational  agitation  led  by 
some  able  women.  Ever  since  the  movement  assumed 
definite  form,  Hardie  has  manifested  great  sympathy  for 
it.  During  the  last  session  the  party  in  the  House 
pledged  itself  to  the  effect  that  women's  suffrage  would 
be  one  of  the  first  measures  it  would  advance  the  follow- 
ing year.  A  resolution  was,  therefore,  brought  before 
the  conference  which  read  as  follows  :  "  That  this  con- 
ference declares  in  favor  of  adult  suffrage  and  the  equal- 
ity of  the  sexes,  and  urges  an  immediate  extension  of  the 
rights  of  suffrage,  and  of  election,  to  women,  on  the 
same  conditions  as  to  men."  This  left  to  the  parliament- 
ary group  freedom  to  support  any  measure  in  the  direc- 
tion of  complete  adult  suffrage.  Mr.  Harry  Quelch,  the 
editor  of  "  Justice,"  who  was  there  as  a  trade  union  rep- 
resentative, but  who  was  really  the  spokesman  of  the 


Il8  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Social  Democratic  Federation,  moved  an  amendment. 
He  expressed  himself  in  favor  of  equal  voting  rights  be- 
ing extended  to  all  men  and  women,  but  he  demanded 
that  the  party  oppose  any  restricted  measure.  The 
amendment  was,  of  course,  intended  to  prevent  the  Labor 
Party  from  supporting  in  any  way  the  hmited  suffrage 
bill  then  before  parliament.  For  reasons  unnecessary 
for  me  to  dwell  upon,  a  majority  of  the  delegates  were  in 
favor  of  passing  the  amendment,  and  all  over  the  hall 
there  arose  cries  of  "  Vote."  Nevertheless,  when  Hardie 
rose  to  speak,  the  conference  listened  to  him.  It  had 
been  said  that  the  bill  would  only  permit  women  with 
property  to  vote,  and  Hardie  was  accused  of  having 
dropped  the  unemployed  agitation  to  support  this  hmited 
form  of  women's  suffrage.  In  answer  to  these  and  other 
objections  Hardie  said  briefly  that  if  the  bill  contained 
a  property  qualification,  he  would  not  support  it;  neither 
would  he  support  it  if  it  were  an  attempt  to  put  women's 
suffrage  before  a  remedy  for  unemployment.  What  was 
the  fact .''  Women  to-day  were  classed  with  criminals 
and  lunatics  as  being  unfit  to  exercise  the  vote.  There 
were  no  men  so  classed  !  (Voices  :  There  are.)  "  No; 
a  man  does  not  require  to  have  property  to  have  a  vote, 
he  has  a  householding  qualification.  The  bill  does  not 
propose  to  establish  any  new  qualification  at  all.  Under 
it  two  millions  of  women  would  be  enfranchised,  and  of 
these  one  and  three-quarter  millions  would  be  working 
women.  The  difficulty  about  the  bill  is  that  people  will 
not  take  the  trouble  to  understand  it." 

A  vote  was  taken,  and  it  was  found  that  the  amend- 
ment was  carried  by  a  large  majority.  A  loud  cheer 
from  the  victors,  almost  the  only  demonstration  of  the 
kind   that  had  followed    any  vote  of    the   conference, 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  II9 

greeted  the  result.  No  one  thought  that  the  amend- 
ment would  carry  with  it  any  serious  consequences,  but 
to  the  astonishment  and  dismay  of  every  one,  Hardie, 
after  expressing  the  thanks  of  the  congressists  for  the 
hospitality  of  the  Belfast  workers,  made  the  following 
important  statement:  — 

"  Twenty-five  years  ago  this  year  I  cut  myself  adrift 
from  every  relationship,  political  or  otherwise,  in  order 
to  assist  in  building  up  a  working-class  party.  I  had 
thought  the  days  of  my  pioneering  were  over.  Of  late 
I  have  felt  with  increasing  intensity  the  injustice  which 
is  inflicted  upon  women  by  the  present  political  laws. 
The  intimation  I  wish  to  make  to  the  conference  and 
friends  is  that,  if  the  motion  they  carried  this  morning 
was  intended  to  limit  the  action  of  the  party  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  I  shall  have  seriously  to  consider 
whether  I  can  remain  a  member  of  the  parliamentary 
party,  I  say  this  with  great  respect  and  feeling.  The 
party  is  largely  my  own  child,  and  I  would  not  sever 
myself  lightly  from  what  has  been  my  life's  work.  But 
I  cannot  be  untrue  to  my  principles,  and  I  would  have 
to  be  so  were  I  not  to  do  my  utmost  to  remove  the 
stigma  resting  upon  our  wives,  mothers,  and  sisters  of 
being  accounted  unfit  for  political  citizenship." 

These  words  fell  upon  the  conference  like  a  bomb. 
The  congress  of  the  Labor  Party  was  over,  but  for  a 
long  time  the  men  stood  about  the  hall  not  knowing 
what  to  do.  Hardie's  action  was  a  surprise  to  every 
one,  and  no  one,  not  even  his  most  intimate  friends, 
had  felt  that  he  would  treat  his  defeat  so  seriously. 
But  Hardie  believes  that  suffrage  is  a  fundamental 
right  of  democracy,  and  he  afterward  wrote,  in  answer 
to  a  friend  who  had  written  him  urging  him  not  to  re- 


I20  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

sign,  and  that  socialism  must  be  first :  "  What  my  friend 
overlooks  is  the  fact  that  with  us  it  is  socialism  first 
because  we  already  have  the  vote.  With  our  voteless 
fathers  it  was  votes  first.  In  Russia  just  now  it  is 
votes  first ;  in  Belgium  the  same ;  and  so  it  would  be 
here  if  men  were  outside  the  franchise  as  women  are. 
Our  fathers  fought  against  class  disability  just  as  the 
women  are  now  fighting  against  sex  disability.  If  only 
that  fact  could  be  grasped,  all  the  trouble  would  dis- 
appear." Later,  in  the  same  statement,  Hardie  says : 
"  The  spectacle  of  women  being  treated  as  though  they 
were  dogs  or  pariahs  revolts  and  humiliates  me ;  their 
admission  to  citizenship  on  terms  of  political  equality 
with  me  is  with  me  a  sacred  principle ;  and  I  would  not 
wish  to  be  in  association  with  any  movement  or  party 
which  could  be  guilty  of  the  unfairness  and  the  injus- 
tice of  denying  to  women  those  rights  which  men  claim 
for  themselves." 

It  was  not  an  uplifting  conference.  The  first  day 
bored  every  one,  and  in  the  end,  as  the  reader  must  well 
see,  we  went  away  sad  and  depressed.  In  contrast  to 
the  continental  congresses,  the  men  of  the  Labor  Party 
lack  the  passion  and  warmth  which  come  only  with  the 
possession  of  a  great  ideal.  Nearly  everywhere  else  in 
Europe  the  masses  are  fired  with  a  new  religion,  and 
the  cold,  machine-like  methods  of  the  Labor  Party 
chilled  one's  enthusiasm.  There  are  perhaps  many 
explanations  that  might  be  given  for  this  lack  of  ideal- 
ism. Perhaps  it  is  because  the  movement  is  still  in 
its  earlier  stages,  and  the  details  of  organization  press 
themselves  forward,  leaving  little  time  for  developing  the 
fundamental  ideas  which  the  movement  must  have  as 
a  basis  if  it  is  to  rank  with  similar  movements  the  world 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  121 

over.  Perhaps  this  coldness  is  inherent  in  the  British 
temperament.  But  whatever  the  cause,  the  lack  of  far 
vision  in  the  labor  movement  irritates  and  saddens  a 
great  many  socialists. 

But  the  average  Britisher  has  no  theories.  He  is 
quiet,  thoughtful,  but  stolid.  Above  all  he  is  practical, 
and  the  thing  he  is  doing  is  an  end  in  itself.  And  the 
British  workman  is  no  exception.  If  he  is  interested 
in  cooperation,  trade  unionism,  or  a  labor  party,  he  is 
interested  in  it  for  the  practical  good  that  can  be  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  that  thing  itself.  The  Frenchman 
has  his  unions  and  cooperatives,  but  not  at  all  because 
he  cares  about  the  immediate  ends  of  these  institutions. 
To  him  they  are  merely  weapons,  ammunition  in  the 
social  revolution.  But  to  the  British  working  man  these 
things  are  too  often  an  end.  If  he  wishes  to  exercise 
his  power  in  cooperation  with  others  in  buying,  selling, 
or  producing ;  if  he  wishes  to  exercise  his  economic 
power  by  cooperating  with  his  fellow-workmen  in  trade 
unions,  or  if  he  desires  to  exercise  his  political  power 
by  uniting  politically  with  his  fellow-workmen,  he  does 
these  things  because  he  feels  that  there  is  some  con- 
crete immediate  end  of  distinct  advantage  to  himself 
to  be  obtained  by  these  means.  Formulas,  fundamen- 
tal principles,  and  eternal  verities  irritate  him.  Yet  it 
is  perhaps  because  of  these  traits  of  his  character  that 
he  has  formed  one  of  the  most  distinctly  class  move- 
ments to  be  found  in  the  world ;  but  he  refuses  to  call 
himself  class-conscious  or  at  present  to  discuss  very 
seriously  or  exhaustively  the  advantages  of  the  socialist 
state.  One  cannot  help  admiring  the  quick  intelhgence, 
the  enthusiasm,  and  the  high  ideals  of  the  Latin  peo- 
ples, and  the  thorough  thinking  and  fatal  logic  of  the 


122  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

Germans,  but  there  is  much  also  in  the  British  tempera 
ment  that  appeals  to  one.  Simply  because  the  move- 
ment in  Great  Britain  refuses  to  accept  phrases  which  it 
does  not  fully  understand  is  not  a  good  reason  for  think- 
ing that  it  is  not  equally  advanced  with  the  move- 
ment elsewhere.  So  long  as  it  moves  definitely  on 
the  lines  of  the  class  struggle,  that  is  the  most  im- 
portant matter ;  and  if  the  working-classes  can  be 
united  politically  and  economically  against  the  exploiter 
of  labor,  the  rest  will  come  of  itself. 

However,  many  prominent  English  sociahsts  do  not 
agree  with  this  view,  and  they  refuse  to  identify  them- 
selves with  the  new  movement  because  they  fear  it 
is  not,  and  never  will  be,  a  socialist  organization.  But 
even  if  this  were  granted,  it  would  only  prove  that 
the  British  working  men  are  inaccessible  to  socialist 
ideals  ;  and  if  that  is  true,  there  cannot  be  a  conscious 
socialist  movement  in  Great  Britain.  The  Labor  Party 
represents  the  working-class.  It  carries  the  class  strug- 
gle into  politics.  It  is  an  organization  of  working 
men,  maintaining  absolute  independence  of  the  capital- 
ist parties,  while  at  the  same  time  extending  an  open 
hand  of  welcome  to  every  socialist,  whether  of  the 
working-class  or  not,  who  belongs  to  an  affihated  or- 
ganization. No  better  opportunity  has  been  offered 
the  socialists  of  any  country  to  carry  on  their  propa- 
ganda, and  even  to  lead  the  workers  into  the  lines  of 
socialist  development.  If  the  socialists  cannot  impress 
their  ideas  upon  the  Labor  Party,  they  will  fail  to  im- 
press them  upon  the  workers  outside  of  the  Labor  Party. 
The  worker  of  the  Labor  Party  is  the  typical  Britisher. 
He  is  suspicious  of  theoretical  considerations  and  broad 
generalizations.     For  this  reason  he  may  resist  to  the 


THE   BRITISH    LABOR   PARTY  1 23 

end  the  thoroughgoing  comprehensive  programs  upon 
which  the  movements  of  other  countries  have  been  built. 
But  because  of  that,  shall  we  say  the  Labor  Party  is  not 
socialist? 

Socialism  is  surely  less  a  matter  of  program  than  it  is 
a  movement  of  the  disinherited.  Hardie  very  well  said 
at  the  conference  that  formed  the  I.  L.  P.,  "The  labor 
movement  is  neither  a  program  nor  a  constitution,  but 
the  expression  of  a  great  principle,  the  determination  of  the 
workers  to  be  the  arbiters  of  their  own  destiny."  *  Marx 
himself  said  that "  a  movement  was  worth  ten  programs." 
Liebknecht,  de  Paepe,  and  nearly  all  the  ablest  socialist 
leaders  have  considered  working-class  organization  and 
unity  more  important  than  the  program.  Engels  indi- 
cated that  he  was  of  the  same  view  when  in  1892  he 
wrote  of  the  British  movement,  "  It  moves  now  and  then 
with  an  over-cautious  mistrust  of  the  name  of  socialism, 
while  it  gradually  absorbs  the  substance.''  *  The  fact 
is  the  British  worker  is  building  up  a  powerful  working- 
men's  movement.  It  will  represent,  it  must  represent, 
the  aspirations  of  the  working-class,  and  every  day  it 
must  come  into  conflict  with  the  selfish  and  narrow 
policy  of  the  present  order.  Whether  it  works  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  its  end  must  be  socialist,  and 
curiously  enough  by  the  very  nature  of  its  political  re- 
volt it  follows  the  lines  of  the  Marxian  philosophy. 

When  socialism  in  England  was  largely  a  matter  of 
programs,  broad  generalizations,  and  critical  analysis, 
it  made  little  impression.  It  was  a  thing  by  itself, 
not  yet  embodied  into  the  constitution  and  action  of 
working-class  life.  SociaHst  thought  had  not  yet  been 
brought  into  proletarian  life,  and  proletarian  life  had  not 

*  The  italics  are  mine. 


124  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

yet  been  brought  into  socialist  thought,  as  Jaures  so 
well  puts  it ;  but  the  socialists  to-day  who  are  in  the 
Labor  Party  are  in  contact  with  proletarian  life,  and  are 
gradually  infusing  their  spirit  into  the  mass  of  British 
workers.  In  the  old  days  when  the  socialists  limited 
their  activities  to  permeating  cultivated  people  with 
their  aspirations,  to  use  Morris's  phrase,  they  were 
scoffed  at  or  ignored.  To-day  everybody  in  England 
is  discussing  socialism,  and  every  capitalist  influence  is 
being  exerted  to  the  utmost  to  split  the  Labor  Party  by 
separating  the  trade  unionists  from  the  socialist  mem- 
bers.* The  "Daily  Express"  during  the  whole  sum- 
mer of  1906  ran  a  column  entitled  "The  Fraud  of 
SociaHsm."  Always  bitterly  antagonistic  to  every 
aspiration  of  the  working-class,  it  has  consistently 
fought  every  measure  for  the  benefit  of  the  workers ; 
but  in  this  campaign  it  posed  as  the  friend  of  work- 
ing men.  With  a  sensational  appeal  to  the  mass  of 
trade  unionists  it  endeavored  to  rouse  them  to  what 
it  called  the  raid  the  socialists  were  making  upon 
their  funds.  According  to  the  "  Express  "  the  socialists 
were  endeavoring  to  capture  the  trade  unions  by 
stealth,  and  to  use  them  for  furthering  their  own 
nefarious  and  anti-social  purposes.  Other  papers  came 
into  the  battle.  All  Great  Britain  was  discussing  so- 
cialism and  the  Labor  Party.  Everybody  wrote  letters 
to  the  papers,  as  every  one  does  in  England,  express- 
ing their  views  upon  the  matter ;  and  bishops,  minis- 
ters, politicians,  and  even  the  nobility  began  to  take 
sides.  Nothing  has  ever  happened  that  has  done  more 
to  advance  socialism,  and  the  socialists  came  out  of  the 
fight  stronger  than  ever. 

*  See  also  p.  231. 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  1 25 

The  real  test  of  the  strength  and  conscience  of  the 
workers  is  at  hand.  The  sociaHsts  are  being  held  up 
as  atheists,  as  believers  in  the  confiscation  of  all  private 
property,  and  as  advocates  of  free  love.*  The  labor 
men  with  conservative  views  are  being  patted  upon  the 
back  and  flattered.  Their  vanity  is  worked  upon,  their 
jealousies  and  ambitions  fed,  and  so  the  campaign  pro- 
gresses, publicly  and  privately,  openly  and  underhand- 
edly,  to  disrupt  the  party  and  disorganize  the  working- 
classes. 

The  most  subtle,  and  not  the  least  important  of  the 
efforts  being  made  to  destroy  the  Labor  Party,  is  the 
shrewd  politics  of  the  Liberals.  They  have  given  labor 
all  and  more  than  it  has  asked.  The  measures  already 
obtained  by  labor  are  not  of  fundamental  importance ; 
and  yet  even  these  petty  measures  in  the  interests  of 
the  working-class  could  not  have  been  obtained  except 
by  bringing  to  bear  on  the  old  parties  powerful  political 
pressure,  and  that  pressure  is  exercised  best  by  an  in- 
dependent party.  The  old  parties  see  very  plainly  that 
if  they  do  not  endeavor  to  placate  labor,  it  may  return 
a  hundred  or  more  members  to  the  next  parliament, 
and  may  even  within  a  few  years  become  the  second 
party.  They  begin,  therefore,  to  realize  that  they  are 
in  an  awkward  situation,  and  they  now  lavish  upon 
labor  evidences  of  good-will.  They  do  not  do  so  be- 
cause they  love  labor  any  more  than  they  have  loved  it 
in  the  past ;  it  is  because  their  political  life  has  been 
threatened,  and  the  wise  British  masters  have  their  own 
way  of  acting  under  such  circumstances.  They  give 
nothing  until  they  have  to,  but  when  no  alternative  is 
open   to  them,   they   give   gracefully.     This  is  a  very 

*  See  also  pp.  232-233. 


126  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

skilful  method  of  retaining  power,  and  even  some  of 
the  labor  members  are  puzzled,  and  perhaps  a  little 
inclined  to  think  they  have  too  harshly  judged  their 
masters. 

There  are  reefs  ahead,  and  trying  times.  No  other 
workers  in  Europe  have  such  an  astute  class  to  battle 
with.  To  divide  and  thus  to  conquer  is  the  present 
policy  of  the  old  parties,  of  the  press,  and  of  nearly  all 
the  most  prominent  leaders  of  British  opinion.  Bis- 
marck, endeavoring  to  destroy  socig,lism,  persecuted  the 
leaders,  threw  them  into  prison,  drove  them  into  exile, 
and  for  several  years  forced  the  whole  movement  under- 
ground. He  meant  to  destroy  it,  but  instead  he  gave  it 
an  enormous  incentive.  As  we  have  seen,  his  action 
consolidated  the  warring  factions.  In  France  the  upper 
class  use  a  somewhat  similar  method,  and  in  Italy  they 
shoot  down  discontented,  starving  workmen ;  but  the 
English  statesmen  divide,  disrupt,  create  suspicion, 
flatter,  and  corrupt,  and  if  necessary,  grant,  apparently 
with  real  sympathy,  some  of  the  claims  of  an  advanced 
movement.  These  subtle  methods  are  far  more  effec- 
tive than  those  known  to  continental  politicians,  and 
despite  all  the  reform  movements  that  have  risen  and 
political  revolutions  that  have  occurred  in  England,  the 
rule  of  the  upper  classes  has  never  once  been  in 
danger.  Taine  has  well  said,  "  Such  a  country  as  this 
is,  based  on  the  whole  national  history  and  on  the  whole 
national  instincts,  it  is  more  capable  than  any  other 
people  in  Europe  of  transforming  itself  without  recast- 
ing, and  of  devoting  itself  to  its  future  without  re- 
nouncing its  past." 

In  the  face  of  such  traditions  and  inherited  instincts, 
in  the  face  of  the  native  dislike  of  general  principles 


THE   BRITISH   LABOR   PARTY  12/ 

and  abstractions,  it  is  a  stupendous  task  to  impress 
upon  British  labor  the  comprehensive  revolutionary- 
ideals  of  socialism.  Whether  it  can  be  done  or  not 
remains  to  be  seen,  and  in  the  meantime  there  is  no 
question  but  that  a  real  danger  confronts  a  party  with- 
out well-defined  principles  and  high  ideals.  No  one 
realizes  that  fact  more  than  Hardie,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  when  he  spoke  at  Belfast  the  following  words, 
it  was  with  a  note  of  wistfulness,  and  a  sentiment  of 
sorrow  :  "  A  labor  party  without  an  ideal  cannot  last. 
There  must  be  some  Holy  Grail  which  they  are  ever  in 
search  of,  which  they  are  making  sacrifices  to  reach, 
and  which  will  inspire  and  enable  the  men  and 
women  comprising  the  party  to  do  mighty  deeds  for  the 
advancement  of  their  cause.  Many  of  the  Labor 
Party  —  most  of  them — find  that  ideal  in  socialism. 
They  are  not  content  to  be  merely  a  Red  Cross  Brigade 
to  stanch  the  wounds  caused  by  the  system  under 
which  they  live.  They  stand  for  reform,  for  progress, 
and  'finally  for  freedom  of  the  class  to  which  they  be- 
long." 

Note.  —  As  the  manuscript  goes  to  the  printer  the  following  report  (from 
"The  Labour  Leader")  of  the  Hull  Congress  of  the  Labor  Party  reaches 
me  :  — 

"At  last  the  Engineers'  resolution  was  reached.  In  animated  sen- 
tences J.  J.  Stevenson,  of  the  Engineers,  moved:  — 

" '  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Conference  the  time  has  arrived  when  the 
Labor  Party  should  have  as  a  definite  object  the  socialization  of  the  means 
of  production,  distribution,  and  exchange,  to  be  controlled  by  a  democratic 
State  in  the  interest  of  the  entire  community  ;  and  the  complete  emanci- 
pation of  Labor  from  the  domination  of  capitalism  and  landlordism  with 
the  establishment  of  social  and  economic  equality  between  the  sexes.' 

"  When  the  result  was  read  out,  it  was  found  that  the  resolution  was 
carried  by  514,000  against  469,000  votes.  This  is  the  first  time  the  ex- 
tent of  socialist  conviction  has  been  seriously  tested  in  the  Conference." 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY 

I  HAVE  come  from  the  "  Classic  Land  of  Capitalism  " 
to  what  Karl  Marx  has  called  "  The  Paradise  of  the 
Capitalists."  One  would  need  to  be  an  adept  in  fine 
distinctions  to  make  clear  the  difference.  If  the  work- 
ing-classes of  England  are  poverty-stricken,  and  live 
in  overcrowded  and  squalid  quarters,  so  do  the  workers 
of  Belgium.  There  is  one  distinction,  however.  There 
are  certain  classes  of  workmen  in  England  who  have, 
by  organization  and  united  action,  established  for  them- 
selves a  tolerable  existence.  In  Belgium  there  is  prac- 
tically no  such  class.  The  entire  mass  of  workers, 
when  not  actually  beneath  the  poverty  line,  live  but 
slightly  above  it.  In  both  the  classic  land  and  the  para- 
dise an  immense  body  of  citizens  live  in  abominable 
conditions,  and  toil  their  lives  away  without  enjoying 
the  benefits  of  modern  civilized  life. 

Belgium  is  not  a  comfortable,  joyous  place  where  the 
people  lead  happy  lives  and  the  souls  of  children  are 
full  of  gladness.  It  is  true  that  in  many  parts  of  this 
tiny  country,  the  smallest  in  Europe,  there  are  spacious 
and  beautiful  estates  and  handsome  chateaux,  enjoyed 
by  capitalists  who  control  the  powers  of  government 
and  the  institutions  of  the  land.  But  beneath  them  is 
a  nation  in  poverty.  The  capitalists  have  created  for 
themselves  a  paradise ;  and  in  order  to  support  it,  they 
have  made  for  the  people  an  inferno.      Outside  their 

128 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY 


129 


magnificent  estates  there  is  the  never  ceasing  hum  of 
industry;  the  great  factories,  the  mines,  the  quarries,  the 
vast  docks  and  wharves,  the  canals  stretching  throughout 
the  country,  and  the  minutely  and  intensively  cultivated 
fields,  where  multitudes  of  men,  women,  and  children 
labor  unceasingly.  Travelling  in  Belgium,  one  passes 
through  such  a  conglomeration  of  industrial  centres 
as  to  make  one  feel  that  Packingtown,  the  great  steel 
mills  of  Pittsburg,  the  mining  districts  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  textile  mills  of  the  South,  and  the  docks  of  the  Great 
Lakes  had  all  been  crowded  together  in  this  little  hand- 
ful of  country. 

Since  1830,  when  the  capitalists  began  their  rule  in 
Belgium,  the  population  has  steadily  increased  until 
now  it  is  the  densest  in  Europe.  The  increase  in 
wealth  has  been  prodigious,  and  the  factories,  mines, 
commerce,  and  cultivation  of  the  soil  have  developed  to 
such  an  intensity  that  perhaps  no  similar  bit  of  space  in 
the  universe  is  so  adequately  and  variously  industrialized. 
The  figures  of  the  increase  in  the  wealth  of  Belgium 
show  that  during  these  years  of  capitalist  domination, 
there  have  been  amassed  35  milHards  of  francs,  with  an 
annual  revenue  of  3J  milliards.  Louis  Bertrand  shows 
that  if  this  wealth  were  equally  distributed  among 
all  the  people,  each  family  would  possess  a  capital  of 
25,000  francs,  or  an  annual  revenue  of  2500  francs.  This 
would  mean  in  Belgium  that  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  would  be  assured  a  comfortable  and  in  a  small 
way  even  a  luxurious  existence. 

But  there  is  no  such  distribution  of  wealth.  Instead 
of  comfort  in  the  year  1896,  170,000  workmen,  or  about 
25  per  cent  of  all  laborers  investigated,  gained  less  than 
40  cents  per  day,  and   172,000  workers,  or  25  per  cent 

K 


130 


SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 


again,  earned  between  40  and  60  cents  per  day.  This, 
of  course,  means  that  these  workers  were  under  the 
poverty  line,  and  therefore  unable  to  supply  themselves 
and  their  families  with  the  necessaries  of  life.  Perhaps 
as  striking  as  any  of  the  figures  illustrating  the  poverty 
in  Belgium  are  those  concerning  the  dwellings  of  the 
workers.  In  Brussels  the  conditions  are  by  no  means 
the  worst,  and  yet  17,597  of  the  families  investigated, 
or  34  per  cent,  are  forced  to  live  in  one  room,  the  sole 
space  they  have  for  sleeping,  eating,  and  living.  But 
it  is  not  only  in  wages  or  in  housing  that  such  appalling 
conditions  exist.  Even  the  capitalists  under  the  present 
system  cannot  easily  remedy  these  things.  The  injus- 
tice and  wickedness  of  their  rule  are  even  more  clearly 
shown  by  the  woman  and  child  labor,  and  by  their  re- 
sistance to  the  demands  of  the  people  for  the  education 
of  their  children.  In  1902  the  proportion  of  militiamen 
in  various  European  countries  who  were  entirely 
illiterate  was  as  follows  :  — 


In  the  German  Empire  in  1900  . 
In  Sweden  .  .         .         . 

In  Denmark         .         .  .         . 

In  Switzerland     .         .         .         . 
In  Holland  .         .         .         . 

In  England  (marriage  statistics) 

In  France 

In  Belgium  .         .         .         . 


Per  1000 


0.7 
0.8 
0.2 

20  * 

23 

37 
46 

lOI 


*  Read  only  imperfectly. 

From  these  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Belgians 
are  by  far  the  most  illiterate  and  poorly  educated  of  all 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY  I31 

the  peoples  of  industrial  Europe.  Children  have  been 
needed  for  the  mills  and  mines,  and  protest  on  the  part 
of  the  people  has  not  availed  to  prevent  the  capitalists 
from  exploiting  them.  Capitalist  rule  in  Belgium  has 
been  perfect,  for,  as  with  us,  there  were  until  1886  but 
two  parties ;  when  the  one  was  defeated,  the  other  was 
in  power,  and  both  parties  represented  the  elements 
that  are  enriched  by  cheap  labor. 

It  would  seem  impossible  to  expect  from  the  workers 
of  Belgium  an  intelligent  and  consistent  revolt,  as  they 
are  the  most  oppressed  and  badly  educated  workers  of 
the  industrial  countries  of  Europe,  and  accustomed  to 
work  the  longest  hours  at  the  lowest  pay.  Indeed,  it  is 
the  opinion  of  many  Belgians  that  they  are  weak  and 
submissive.  A  well-known  socialist,  Louis  de  Brouck^re, 
writes :  "  Belgium,  the  battlefield  of  Europe,  has  known 
for  centuries  nothing  but  uninterrupted  oppression. 
Spain,  Austria,  and  France  fought  for  our  provinces 
which  had  already  suffered  from  the  brutal  treatment  of 
the  Dukes  of  Burgundy.  The  rival  powers  took  posses- 
sion of  them,  lost  them,  and  took  them  again  at  various 
intervals.  At  every  new  conquest  our  country  had  to  be 
forced  to  surrender  and  to  obey.  .  .  .  We  have  been 
assailed  by  all  the  reactions  since  the  Inquisition,  and 
they  have  raged  in  our  country  more  furiously  than  in 
any  other  except  Spain,  until  the  Restoration.  We  have 
had  to  submit  to  the  despotism  of  every  power  from 
Philip  the  Second  down  to  Napoleon,  a  cruel  and  long 
tyranny  which  ended  by  forcing  us  into  servitude. 
During  the  time  of  our  misery  we  learned  habits  of  sub- 
mission, from  which  these  twenty  years  of  sociaHst 
organization  have  not  been  able  to  entirely  free  us." 

This  is  a  strong  statement,  and  in  the  face  of  such 


132  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

odds  it  is  little  wonder  that  the  workers  have  submitted. 
But  where  any  other  course  has  been  possible,  they  have 
availed  themselves  of  it.  In  the  old  days  in  Ghent  the 
mediaeval  guilds  used  to  flock  into  the  public  square  to 
raise  their  standard  of  revolt.  There  also  Gerard  Denys 
used  to  lead  the  weavers  against  their  oppressors.  And 
there  to-day  stands  the  Maison  du  Peuple,  representing 
the  modern  revolt  of  the  workers.  The  Walloons  of 
Li^ge,  known  always  for  their  industry  and  hard  labor, 
used  to  take  the  weapons  which  they  manufactured  so 
skilfully  to  use  against  their  oppressors.  A  writer  of  the 
old  day  says  :  "The  history  of  Liege  records  a  series  of 
sanguinary  insurrections  of  the  turbulent  and  unbridled 
populace  against  their  oppressive  and  arrogant  rulers." 

And  so  it  has  always  been.  The  strongest  section  of  the 
International  was  among  the  Belgians,  and  their  leaders 
were  among  the  most  capable  and  uncompromising. 
Indefatigable  in  their  labor  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of 
revolt,  they  fought  with  incredible  energy  and  devotion. 
Cesar  de  Paepe,  Jean  Pellering,  Desire  Brismee,  Eugene 
Steens,  and  Laurent  Verrycken  were  men  of  whom  any 
country  might  well  be  proud.  Unfortunately  the  Inter- 
national, as  a  whole,  was  a  body  dominated  by  intellec- 
tuals, and  although  exhorting  the  workers  to  union  and 
persistently  urging  that  "  The  emancipation  of  the 
workers  must  be  the  work  of  the  workers  themselves," 
it  was  filled  with  the  poison  of  sectarian  strife.  It  was, 
despite  all,  ideological,  and  above  all  a  continuous  battle 
between  two  great  intellects.* 

Especially  in  Belgium  they  were  dreary  years  of 
quarrels,  creating  antagonisms  that  made  unity  of  action 
impossible.     The  death  of  the  International  in  1872  was 

*  See  also  p.  305. 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY  1 33 

followed  by  blank  despair.  Some  of  the  leaders  came 
to  believe  with  the  Russians  that  the  only  hope  left  to 
the  workers  was  pan-destruction.  Others  retired  to  their 
workshops,  hopelessly  discouraged.  Still  others  went 
into  bourgeois  politics,  having  lost  all  hope  of  working- 
class  organization.  Two  "  brilliant  "  members  of  the 
International  planned  to  interview  Napoleon  the  Third, 
who  was  then  in  England,  and  to  endeavor  to  persuade 
him  to  become  the  emperor  of  the  workers  and  peasants  ! 
One  of  them  was  so  infatuated  with  the  idea  that  he  soon 
imagined  himself  vice-emperor,  and  to  expound  his  views 
he  printed  a  little  tract  on  "  The  Empire  and  the  New 
France."  Pessimism  was  general,  the  labor  movement 
was  dormant,  and  capitalism  in  Belgium  as  elsewhere 
grew  more  arrogant  and  oppressive. 

It  was  some  time  before  new  blood  began  to  make 
itself  felt.  Two  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  younger 
men  came  from  among  that  wonderful  people,  the 
weavers  of  Ghent.  They  were  Van  Beveren  and  An- 
seele.  Other  youths  began  to  work  in  other  parts  of 
Belgium,  and  pretty  soon  throughout  the  country,  work- 
men's leagues,  democratic  federations,  rational  and 
republican  organizations  began  to  spring  up.  Some  of 
the  old  sections  of  the  International  were  revived  and 
a  Chamber  of  Labor  at  Brussels  was  founded,  while  in 
Ghent  and  elsewhere  the  cooperative  and  socialist  organ- 
izations took  on  a  new  development.  Everywhere  with 
the  reviving  movement  there  came  to  birth  again  the  old 
longing  of  the  oppressed  for  unity  and  concerted  action. 
With  this  spirit  there  arose  leaders  to  give  it  voice : 
Jean  Volders,  Van  Beveren,  Anseele,  and  Bertrand, 
while  old  C6sar  de  Paepe  and  Verrycken  began  to 
work  again  with  renewed  enthusiasm. 


134  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

In  1885  a  hundred  working  men,  representing  59 
groups,  came  together  in  Brussels  to  discuss  what  they 
should  do.  It  was  a  remarkable  gathering,  which  ended 
in  the  formation  of  the  Belgian  Labor  Party.  To  the 
thought  of  every  one  the  condition  of  the  workers  had 
become  unbearable,  and  the  longing  for  unity  among  the 
working-classes  was  profound.  They  were  weary  of 
dogma  and  intellect,  and  came  very  near  excluding  that 
grand  old  man,  Cesar  de  Paepe.  They  gave  no  thought 
to  program,  and  the  socialists  themselves,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  or  three,  agreed  that  it  was  better  to 
leave  the  word  "  sociahst"  out  of  the  title  of  the  party. 

They  had  reached  a  stage  more  fundamentally  revolu- 
tionary and  more  dangerous  to  capitahsm  than  ever 
rested  in  any  thought,  dogma,  or  statement  of  what  the 
future  society  should  be.  They  intended  to  unite  the 
working-class,  no  matter  what  the  individuals  believed. 
They  wanted  the  stupid  and  backward  elements  as  much 
as  the  advanced  and  more  intelligent.  In  this  memorable 
year  something  more  profound  than  doctrine  agitated 
the  souls  of  the  workers,  and  unionists,  mutualists,  so- 
cialists, democrats,  republicans,  rationalists,  catholics, 
protestants,  revolutionists,  and  positivists  came  together 
and  formed  a  class  party.  It  was  a  union  of  oppressed 
against  oppressors,  a  union  of  workers  against  capitalists, 
a  union  of  exploited  against  exploiters.  They  did  then 
precisely  what  they  are  now  doing  in  England. 

It  was  the  birth  of  a  party,  determined  to  free  itself 
from  political  connections  of  any  sort  with  capitalist 
parties.  The  members  did  not  say  they  were  socialists  ; 
they  simply  said,  "  The  working-class  of  Belgium  is  or- 
ganizing itself  politically  against  its  exploiters,"  and 
that  means  that  they  intend  some  day  to  take  Belgium 


THE   BELGIAN   LABOR   PARTY  1 35 

into  their  own  hands  and  administer  it  in  their  own 
interest.  Some  of  the  socialists  were  not  satisfied,  but 
they  all  freely  and  generously  assented  to  the  decision 
of  the  congress.  Whatever  their  opinion  was  at  that 
time,  it  certainly  came  later  in  accord  with  that  of 
Cesar  de  Paepe,  who  wrote  not  long  afterward  :  "  What 
more  immense  and  at  the  same  time  more  simple  and 
precise !  Why  add  the  words  socialist,  collectivist, 
communist,  rationalist,  democrat,  republican,  and  other 
limiting  epithets  ?  He  who  says  Parti  Oiivrier  says 
Party  of  Class,  and  since  the  working-class  constitutes 
itself  into  a  party,  how  could  you  believe  that  it  may 
be  anything  else  in  its  tendencies  and  principles  than 
socialist  and  republican  ?  " 

After  the  Belgian  party  was  constituted  it  became  the 
most  strikingly  solidified  and  integral  party  in  Europe, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  it  adopted  a  complete  social- 
ist program.  Vandervelde  has  well  said  :  "  Belgian 
socialism,  at  the  conflux  of  three  great  European  civili- 
zations, partakes  of  the  character  of  each  of  them.  From 
the  English  it  adopted  self-help  and  free  association, 
principally  under  the  cooperative  form;  from  the  Ger- 
mans political  tactics  and  fundamental  doctrines,  which 
were  for  the  first  time  expounded  in  the  Communist 
Manifesto  ;  and  from  the  French  it  took  its  idealist  ten- 
dencies, its  integral  conception  of  socialism,  considered 
as  the  continuation  of  the  revolutionary  philosophy,  and 
as  a  new  religion  continuing  and  fulfilling  Christianity." 

In  accord  with  this  eclectic  spirit,  the  Belgian  Labor 
Party  includes  in  itself  every  organization  that  expresses 
working-class  aspirations.  The  trade  unions ;  the  co- 
operatives with  their  "  Houses  of  the  People,"  their 
great  stores,  and  their  public  meeting-halls;    and    the 


136  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

friendly  societies  with  their  insurance  schemes,  are  all 
closely  and  definitely  associated  in  one  poHtical  party, 
which  carries  on  a  gigantic  propaganda,  and  has  its 
press  and  its  fighting  force  in  parliament  and  upon 
municipal  bodies.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
this  complete  organization  and  almost  perfect  solidarity 
brought  the  workers  hope  for  the  future  and  for  the 
present  great  confidence  in   themselves. 

During  the  year  1886  riots  broke  out  in  various  in- 
dustrial sections.  The  working-class  had  long  stood 
oppression,  and  now  at  last  it  seemed  the  time  had  come 
to  remedy  the  misery  of  their  condition.  During  all  the 
years  of  capitalist  domination  the  two  old  parties  had 
ignored  the  necessities  of  the  poor.  There  was  no 
legislation  of  importance  to  benefit  or  protect  the  work- 
ing-class. The  total  disregard  of  the  capitalists  for  the 
misery  of  the  workers  is  shown  by  their  treatment  of  a 
bill  introduced  as  early  as  1872  to  regulate  child  labor. 
It  was  an  effort  to  prevent  boys  under  thirteen  years  of 
age  and  girls  under  fourteen  years  of  age  from  working 
underground  in  the  coal  mines.  The  bill  was  ignored 
for  six  years,  and  only  in  1878  did  the  parties  take  time 
to  consider  it.  And  then,  even  after  the  horrible  con- 
ditions of  child  slavery  had  been  stated,  out  of  155 
representatives  in  parliament  1 50  voted  against  the  bill. 
But  things  began  to  change  immediately  after  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Labor  Party.  The  capitahsts  were  then 
forced  to  consider  seriously  the  condition  of  the  people. 
A  commission  of  inquiry  was  established,  and  in  the 
years  following  1886,  law  after  law  was  voted  for  the 
benefit  of  the  working-class.  They  were  not  important 
laws  perhaps,  but  as  I  have  shown  in  the  chapter  on  the 
British  movement,  even  such  miserable  concessions  are 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY  1 37 

wrung  from  the  ruling  powers  only  after  a  complete 
political  revolt  of  the  wage-workers. 

Early  on  Easter  Sunday,  1907,  I  went  to  the  "House 
of  the  People  "  to  attend  the  annual  congress  of  the 
Belgian  Labor  Party.  In  one  of  the  busiest  and  most 
important  sections  of  the  beautiful  capital  of  Belgium 
the  socialists  have  built  their  temple  at  a  cost  of  over 
1,200,000  francs.  It  is  a  veritable  palace,  containing 
the  offices  of  the  International  Socialist  Bureau,  the 
Belgian  party,  and  the  trade  unions.  There  are  also 
several  large  meeting  and  committee  rooms,  and  of 
course,  the  stores,  tailor  shops,  etc.,  of  the  cooperative. 
On  the  ground  floor  there  is  a  large  and  handsome  cafe, 
which  is  filled  to  overcrowding  every  evening  with 
working  people  and  their  families.  Besides  this  House 
of  the  People  there  are  five  branch  establishments,  all 
of  them  handsome  buildings,  and  one  of  them  with 
large  grounds  in  addition. 

On  this  Easter  morning  the  building  was  gorgeous 
in  the  sunlight ;  red  flags  were  flying,  and  a  great 
banner  with  "Welcome  to  All"  was  flung  over  the 
broad  entrance.  From  the  top  of  the  building  were 
hung  four  tablets  bearing  the  names  of  Marx,  Proudhon, 
Volders,  and  de  Paepe.  How  significant  are  these 
names  !  Marx  and  Proudhon  bequeathed  to  the  Bel- 
gian movement,  as  to  all  other  working  men's  move- 
ments in  the  world,  intellectual  lines  of  guidance. 
Volders  represents  the  genius  of  agitation,  one  who 
literally  destroyed  himself  by  days  and  nights  of 
feverish  propaganda.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  he 
was  the  master  of  Brussels.  Cesar  de  Paepe  was  a 
friend  of  Proudhon,  of  Bakounine,  and  of  Marx ;  a 
great  scientist,  and  an  indefatigable  propagandist.     It 


138  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

was  his  spirit  and  counsel  more  than  any  one  else's 
that  made  possible  the  unity  and  impressive  harmony 
which  rules  the  Belgian  movement.  His  was  the 
genius  of  working-class   solidarity. 

At  the  top  of  this  House  of  the  People  is  a  superb 
hall,  ordinarily  used  for  dramatic  purposes,  with  seats 
for  perhaps  2000  people.  The  night  before  I  had 
seen  it  crowded  with  the  poorest  working  men,  women, 
and  children  of  Brussels,  who  had  come  to  see  the 
popular  cinematograph.  This  morning  working  men 
from  every  part  of  Belgium,  from  the  mines,  quarries, 
docks,  glass-works,  mills,  and  all  the  great  industrial 
enterprises,  were  gathered  together  to  deliberate  upon 
their  common  affairs.  There  were  about  400  delegates, 
representing  cooperatives,  mutual  societies,  trade 
unions,  socialist  circles,  and  "  locals."  They  were 
almost  all  working  men,  for  the  movement  in  Belgium 
is  predominantly  proletarian,  and  in  this  respect  it 
resembles  markedly  the  British  Labor  Party.  The 
mass  of  the  delegates  are  builders  and  organizers  of 
working-class  movements.  Many  of  them  are  masterly 
in  debate  and  powerful  propagandists,  but  few  outside 
of  Belgium  know  their  names,  or  can  appreciate  the 
immense  role  they  play  in  party  affairs. 

There  were,  however,  a  few  men  of  note.  There 
was  Louis  Bertrand,  who  in  the  early  days  of  the  move- 
ment carried  on  an  effective  propaganda,  and  was  also 
president  of  the  conference  at  which  the  Labor  Party 
was  founded.  Professor  Emile  Vinck,  who  has  special- 
ized for  many  years  upon  municipal  questions,  delivered 
an  important  report.  Senator  Lafontaine,  an  extraor- 
dinarily brilliant  man,  Jules  Destree,  and  Louis  de 
Brouckere   were    also    in    attendance.     Camille    Huys- 


THE   BELGIAN   LABOR   PARTY  1 39 

mans,  the  secretary  of  the  International  Socialist 
Bureau,  was  as  efficient  in  the  Belgian  congress  as  he 
is  in  all  congresses  and  committee  meetings,  whether 
national  or  international.  Vandervelde,  perhaps  the 
most  able  parliamentary  leader,  and  a  scholarly  and 
conscientious  writer  on  economic  subjects,  was  unable 
to  be  there  because  of  illness ;  but  he  sent  a  report 
which  was  read  and  discussed. 

The  youthful-looking  person  in  the  chair  was  Edouard 
Anseele.  I  had  always  wanted  to  see  this  militant 
ever  since  I  learned  that  socialism  was  not  a  dream 
or  a  Utopia,  but  a  present-day  movement  full  of 
purpose  and  vitality.  I  had  imagined  that  Anseele 
was  now  old  and  fatherly-looking,  with  white  hair, 
benevolent  face,  and  kind  eyes.  Instead,  I  saw  a  short, 
powerful,  well-muscled,  youthful-looking  man  with  a 
small  head  and  a  strong  neck.  His  jaws  are  those  of 
a  fighter,  and  in  action  they  open  and  shut  like  a  steel 
trap.  He  is  the  soul  of  conviction,  and  to  express  this 
soul  he  has  a  body  of  iron  that  knows  no  ache  or 
pain.  Overcoming  obstacles  is  to  him  a  joy.  He 
loves  to  meet  them,  to  battle  with  them,  and  to  con- 
quer them.  He  is  strenuous  as  even  Roosevelt  knows 
not  how  to  be.  He  never  rests  ;  he  cannot  walk,  he 
runs.  In  fact,  Anseele  does  the  work  of  half-a-dozen 
men,  and  his  accomplishments  are  prodigious.  Besides 
managing  one  of  the  largest  cooperative  undertakings 
in  Belgium,  which  does  an  annual  business  of  over 
5,000,000  francs,  he  is  an  aggressive  deputy,  and  no 
discussion  takes  place  but  finds  him  on  the  fighting 
line.  He  is  the  bete  iwir  of  the  capitalists  in  the 
chamber.  He  annoys  them,  routs  them  out  of  their 
lethargy,  prods  them  into  activity,  and  goads  them  into 


140  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

fury.  He  is  also  an  indefatigable  propagandist,  flying 
to  all  parts  of  Belgium  to  carry  the  message  of  social- 
ism. The  son  of  a  workman,  Ansccle  is  the  very  in- 
carnation of  the  working-class  revolt. 

It  is  recorded  that  once,  when  about  eighteen  years 
of  age,  he  heard  by  chance  some  sociahsts  speak.  One 
of  them  described  the  misery  and  wretchedness  of  the 
weavers  of  Ghent.  Anseelc  wept.  That  meant  some- 
thing for  that  lad,  and  since  that  hour  he  has  been  a 
revolutionist.  In  his  youth  he  sold  papers  on  the 
streets,  he  wrote  socialist  novels,  and  in  the  evening 
hours  he  carried  on  a  ceaseless  propaganda.  As  he 
was  extremely  poor,  he  often  sold  shirts  and  other  ar- 
ticles to  his  audiences  to  pay  his  travelling  expenses 
and  to  assist  the  propaganda.  Later  he  became  the 
editor  of  the  local  socialist  paper,  and  was  sent  to 
prison  for  some  months  because  after  the  soldiers  had 
shot  down  some  workers  on  strike,  he  called  King  Leo- 
pold, Assassin  I,  and  issued  a  passionate  appeal  to  the 
mothers,  sisters,  and  sweethearts  of  the  soldiers,  beg- 
ging them  to  write  to  their  dear  ones  in  the  army,  de- 
manding that  they  refuse  to  fire  upon  their  brothers,  the 
working  men.  It  would  be  impossible  to  recount  what 
this  man  has  accomplished  by  his  superhuman  activity 
during  the  last  thirty  years. 

The  congress  reminded  me  very  much  of  the  English 
one.  It  was  cool,  even-tempered,  and  efficient.  There 
were  no  great  orations  delivered,  and  the  questions  dis- 
cussed had  to  do  with  definite  and  practical  party  work. 
For  an  outsider  there  was  not  a  great  deal  of  interest. 
After  considering  reports  from  the  parliamentary  group, 
the  trade  union  group,  the  cooperative  group,  and  the 
federated  municipal  councillors,  the  congress  gave  con- 


TIIK   BELGIAN   LAHOR   PARTY  I4I 

sidcration  to  certain  detailed  questions  of  administra- 
tion, and  to  other  matters  largely  of  local  interest.  Louis 
Bertrand  read  an  important  report  upon  the  eight-hour 
day,  and  the  old  fight  for  universal  suffrage  came  up 
under  the  form  of  a  proposed  electoral  affiliation  with 
the  Liberal  Party.  Vandervelde  in  his  report  traced  the 
history  of  the  struggle  for  universal  suffrage,  and  advo- 
cated affiliating  with  the  Liberal  Party  for  the  purpose 
of  combating  the  Clericals.  The  latter  have  always 
been  the  most  obstinate  opponents  of  universal  suf- 
frage. It  w;is,  therefore,  the  opinion  of  Vandervelde 
that  a  gener.il  and  concerted  electoral  affiliation  should 
be  worked  out  l)c:twecn  the  Liberals  and  the  Labor 
P.'uly  which  would  ena,ble  them  together  to  control 
practically  all  Ihe  municipal  bodies  of  ]ielgium. 

The  struggle  for  universal  suffrage  in  Jielgium  has 
been  a  long,  bitter,  and  insistent  fight,  extending  over 
a  half  century.  'I'here  have  been  two  general  strikes, 
countless  riots,  imprisoned  and  martyred  workers.  At 
all  the  congresses  since  the  formation  of  the  party,  there 
h;is  1)(h:ii  ;i  discussion  of  this  (piestion.  One  cannot  over- 
estimate what  the  working-class  of  Belgium  has  suffered 
in  the  long  struggle  to  obtain  a  more  equitable  electoral 
system.  After  the  general  strike  of  1895  the  old  law  was 
rei)cale(l ;  but  the  new  law,  while  marking  an  advance, 
well  deserves  the  name  that  Anseelc  gave  it,  "  The  law 
of  tlic  four  infamies."  This  legislation  still  irritates  the 
workers,  and  the;  suggestion  of  Vandervelde  was  con- 
sidered as  ])erhaps  the  only  means  now  available  of 
forcing  the  •government  to  grant  a  further  extension  of 
the  suffrage.  It  should  be  said  incidentally  that  elec- 
toral affiliations  among  the  opposition  parties  are  cus- 
tomary in  Iklgium ;  but  although  the  wisdom  of  such 


142  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

action  is  doubted  by  some  members  of  the  Labor  Party, 
each  section  or  federation  has  been  left  to  do  as  it 
pleased  in  such  cases,  and  the  party  statutes  provide 
only  that  the  principles  of  the  party  program  shall  not 
be  sacrificed.  The  proposal  of  Vandervelde  was,  there- 
fore, not  so  unusual  as  at  first  appears.  It  proposed  that 
instead  of  isolated  instances  of  affiliation,  the  Labor 
Party  should  work  out  a  consistent  plan  for  affiliation 
with  the  Liberals  in  all  parts  of  Belgium.  After  an  in- 
teresting debate  it  was  decided  not  to  agree  to  a  gen- 
eral plan,  but  to  leave  to  the  local  federations  freedom 
to  do  as  they  desired. 

This  is  perhaps  the  chief  matter  of  interest  to  the 
outsider  that  came  up  for  discussion.  It  was  not  what 
transpired  at  the  congress  that  impressed  one  with  the 
vital  power  of  the  Belgian  movement.  It  was  what  was 
back  of  the  congress.  It  was  the  thousands  of  work- 
ing men,  women,  and  children  bound  together  in  a  mul- 
titude of  circles,  cooperatives,  mutualities,  and  unions 
that  form  the  basis  of  working-class  action.  The 
Belgian  movement  is  not  dominated  by  politicians,  nor 
held  together  by  oratory.  It  is  the  expression  of  a 
class  impulse.  It  is  the  precious  result  of  the  work  of 
the  men  and  women  of  the  mines,  mills,  and  factories, 
who  after  the  hard  toil  of  the  day,  give  their  love  and 
labor  to  the  upbuilding  of  their  emancipatory  institu- 
tions. Determined  to  free  themselves  from  the  unbear- 
able conditions  of  capitalism,  they  have  created  for 
themselves  numberless  organizations  to  support  them 
in  their  conflict. 

To  begin  with,  there  are  the  syndicats,  or  trade  unions. 
Although  they  have  existed  in  Belgium  from  early 
times,  and  while  almost  every  type  can  be  found  there, 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY  I43 

including  "  Tlie  Knights  of  Labor,"  copied  from  the 
American  organization,  the  trade  union  movement  as  a 
whole  is  weak.  The  reasons  for  this  are  various.  In 
the  first  place  the  law  has  been  most  unfriendly  to  its 
development,  its  members  have  not  seen  the  necessity 
for  large  dues  and  efficient,  well-paid  secretaries,  and  at 
present  they  have  practically  no  paid  organizers.  At 
the  time  of  a  strike  they  often  depend  more  upon  as- 
sistance from  the  cooperatives  than  from  their  own 
treasuries.  The  trade  unions  also  usually  have  a  politi- 
cal or  religious  bias.  There  are,  for  instance,  four 
types  of  unions:  (i)  those  connected  with  the  Liberal 
party  ;  (2)  those  connected  with  the  Clerical  party  ;  (3) 
those  connected  with  the  socialist  party  ;  and  (4)  the 
Independents  who  refuse  to  affiliate  themselves  defi- 
nitely with  any  party.  There  are  now  about  148,483 
trade  unionists  in  Belgium.  Only  17,000  are  Catholics, 
2000  are  Liberals,  about  31,000  are  Independents,  while 
94,000  are  affiliated  with  the  socialist  party.  It  is 
obvious,  therefore,  that  outside  of  the  socialist  and 
independent  unions  the  movement  is  of  little  con- 
sequence. 

The  Labor  Party,  realizing  the  weakness  of  the 
unions  and  their  importance  in  working-class  action, 
is  now  using  all  its  power  to  build  up  a  strong  and 
virile  trade  union  movement.  Several  of  the  ablest 
leaders  are  devoting  their  entire  time  trying  to  infuse 
a  more  militant  spirit  into  the  workers  Propagandists 
are  at  work  in  all  parts  of  Belgium,  agitating  for  paid 
officials  who  can  give  all  their  time  to  the  affairs  of  the 
unions.  New  organizations  are  being  formed,  and  the 
old  ones  that  have  fallen  into  decay  are  being  revived. 
As  a  result  of  these  energetic  efforts,  one  begins  to  see 


144  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

a  great  increase  in  membership  that  promises  well  for 
the  future. 

Not  all  the  unions,  however,  are  badly  organized,  and 
those  of  Ghent  have  been  of  enormous  service  to  the 
workers.  The  cooperatives,  the  mutualities,  and  the 
party  work  in  perfect  harmony,  and  together  they  have 
realized  an  immense  progress.  Through  their  political 
influence  the  unions  have  obtained  from  the  city  of 
Ghent  an  insurance  scheme  for  assisting  the  unem- 
ployed members.  Since  1901  the  municipal  council 
has  given  to  unemployed  union  men  one  dollar  for 
every  dollar  expended  from  the  trade  union  treasury. 
This  is  a  significant  and  important  development,  for  it 
means  that  the  unions  no  longer  have  to  bear  the  entire 
responsibility  for  the  unemployed.  The  scheme  has 
spread  from  Ghent  to  other  cities  in  Belgium,  which 
now  undertake  a  part  of  this  heavy  burden  and  cooper- 
ate with  the  unions  to  the  extent,  at  least,  of  sharing 
the  load. 

The  next  group  of  organizations  connected  with  the 
Belgian  movement  are  les  Miitualit^s.  They  are  mutual 
insurance  societies  such  as  we  have  in  America.  They 
existed  in  Belgium  long  before  the  formation  of  the 
Labor  Party,  when  a  number  became  affiliated  to  the  po- 
litical movement.  Some,  however,  were  unable  to  do  so 
at  that  time,  as  they  included  in  their  organization  both 
employers  and  employees.  In  1905,  according  to  the 
Bureau  of  Labor,  there  were  about  7000  such  societies, 
organized  to  insure  the  workers  and  their  families 
against  sickness,  old  age,  death,  and  similar  misfortunes. 
Although  this  seems  a  large  number  for  so  small  a 
country,  there  are  still  many  others  which  do  not  report 
their  affairs  to  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  and  are,  therefore, 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY  I45 

not  included  in  the  official  reports.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  latter  is  the  Bond  Moyson  at  Ghent, 
named  in  memory  of  one  of  the  pioneer  socialists  of 
Flanders.  In  1890,  after  a  long  discussion  and  a  rather 
heated  battle,  all  of  the  insurance  societies  in  Ghent, 
excepting  one,  affiliated  themselves  to  the  group  of 
socialist  organizations  centring  about  the  Maison  du 
Peuple.  This  consolidation  was  followed  by  an  era  of 
prosperity,  and  the  members  of  the  insurance  organiza- 
tions increased  from  4600  in  1897  to  10,323  in  1904,  or 
including  families  to  nearly  30,000  persons.  Soon  after 
the  reorganization  several  new  insurance  measures  were 
adopted.  A  new  fund  was  established  to  provide 
against  invalidity,  and  another  for  ordinary  life  insur- 
ance. The  members  of  the  Bond  Moyson  now  obtain 
three  classes  of  benefits:  pensions,  the  care  of  a  physi- 
cian and  medicines,  and  bread  supplies  from  the  cooper- 
ative stores.  In  case  of  the  death  of  the  insured  one,  a 
pension  is  also  given  to  the  family.  Special  assistance 
is  provided  at  the  time  of  childbirth.  As  a  new  devel- 
opment a  pension  is  now  given  to  all  those  who  have 
bought  regularly  at  the  cooperative  stores  for  twenty 
years.  And  when  they  are  60  years  old,  they  are  given 
practically  all  their  necessary  supplies.  Not  only  in 
Ghent  has  the  system  developed,  but  organizations 
similarly  constituted  and  managed  are  a  part  of  the 
movement  in  all  the  industrial  districts  of  Belgium. 

The  third  group  of  organizations  —  the  cooperatives 
—  is  perhaps  the  most  important.  They  comprise 
almost  every  type  of  associated  effort.  One  sees  now 
in  all  the  industrial  towns  of  Belgium  handsome  stores, 
large  assembly  rooms,  cafds,  and  restaurants,  owned  and 
administered  by  the  working  people  themselves.     In  ad- 


146  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

dition  to  the  stores,  where  the  activity  is  largely  commer- 
cial, there  are  also  several  productive  enterprises  of  note, 
and  almost  every  town  has  at  least  one  model  bakery. 
In  these  bakeries  the  workmen  have  an  eight-hour  day 
with  the  maximum  trade  union  wage.  There  are  also 
breweries  and  cigar-making  establishments,  boot  and 
shoe  factories,  printing  shops,  cotton  mills,  and  dairies, 
—  all  conducted  on  the  cooperative  plan. 

It  is  again  at  Ghent  that  the  organization  is  the  best 
developed.     To  begin  with  there  is  the  beautiful  house 
of  the    Vooruit,  which  is  called  "Our  House."     In  ad- 
dition to  being  a  large  department  store,  where  almost 
everything  that  is  required  by  the  working  people  can 
be  bought,  it  is  a  working  men's  club.     There  are  rooms 
for  meetings  and  for  recreation,  which  in  many  ways  re- 
semble those  of  the  University  Settlements  in  America. 
On  the  first  floor  of  Our  House  is  a  large  caf6,  where 
about    1000   people  can   sit  comfortably  at  the  tables. 
No  strongly  alcoholic  drinks  are  sold,  although  one  can 
always  obtain  light  beers  and  wines,  tea,  coffee,  milk, 
and  similar  non-intoxicating  drinks.     In  the  evening  the 
cafe  is  invariably  filled  with  men,  women,  and  children, — 
the  weavers  of  Ghent.     Above  this  room  is  a  large  and 
beautiful  library,  which  is  also  u.sed  at  times  for  lectures 
and   meetings.     On  the  same   floor   there   are   several 
committee  rooms,  while  on  the  top  floor  there  is  a  large 
assembly  room,  occasionally  used  as  a  theatre.     All  the 
rooms  are  handsomely  decorated  with  mural  paintings, 
illustrating    in   heroic    forms    the    subject    of    Labor. 
Throughout   the  town  there  are    many  branch    stores, 
and  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town  there  is  a  new  model 
bakery  with  the  most  improved  machinery,  which  pro- 
duces about  200,000  pounds  of  bread  each  week.     In  ad- 


THE   BELGIAN   LABOR   PARTY  1 47 

dition,  there  are  several  branch  Hbraries,  a  large  cotton 
mill,  and  a  well-equipped  printing  establishment,  where 
two  daily  papers  and  most  of  the  books,  pamphlets, 
tracts,  and  other  publications  of  the  party  are  printed. 
For  twenty  cents  a  year  every  member  of  the  coopera- 
tive, including  altogether  about  155,000  persons,  receives 
regularly  all  publications  of  this  print  shop. 

Perhaps  no  more  significant  move  has  been  made  by 
the  ever  enterprising  Anseele  and  the  working  men  of 
Ghent  than  the  buying  of  a  fine  old  house  in  one  of  the 
most  aristocratic  quarters.  It  was  formerly  occupied  by 
an  exclusive  club,  but  it  was  found  too  expensive  to  keep 
up  !  Suddenly  and  quite  secretly  this  house  was  bought 
by  the  weavers  of  Ghent,  and  it  is  now  their  club.  It 
has  a  caf6,  a  library,  a  handsome  theatre,  and  meeting- 
rooms,  in  addition  to  a  large  garden,  which  is  used  on 
Sundays  and  other  fete  days,  for  the  games  and  assem- 
blies of  the  socialists.  In  the  midst  of  this  old  aristo- 
cratic quarter  Vooruit  has  placed  its  standard,  and  the 
neighbors  now  see  the  working  people  at  games  and 
dances,  and  hear  at  close  hand  the  singing  of  the  "  In- 
ternationale," and  other  revolutionary  songs. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  give  in  a  short  chapter 
an  adequate  conception  of  the  development  of  the  co- 
operatives, but  the  following  figures  may  convey  some 
idea  of  their  extent.  The  annual  sales  of  the  distribu- 
tive stores  in  Belgium  during  1906  amounted  to  about 
32,000,000  francs,  and  out  of  the  profits  benefits  were 
allotted  to  the  members  amounting  to  over  3,000,000. 
This  latter  sum  was  distributed  to  about  120,000  persons 
who  were  afifiliatcd  with  the  cooperatives.  The  total 
sales  from  the  various  productive  enterprises,  which  in- 
clude breweries,  bakeries,  dairies,  and  so  forth,  during 


148  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

the  same  year  amounted  to  about  1,500,000  francs.  The 
value  of  these  organizations,  however,  does  not  he  only 
in  the  amount  of  money  which  they  distribute  to  their 
members ;  they  also  furnish  supplies  in  immense  quan- 
tities to  the  strikers  when  there  is  any  great  battle  on 
between  employers  and  employees.  In  addition  they 
supply  funds  to  carry  on  many  other  working-class  ac- 
tivities. The  Maison  dn  Peuple  of  Brussels,  to  mention 
but  one  instance,  during  the  six  years,  from  1897-1903, 
gave  to  the  socialist  propaganda  half  a  million  francs. 
Another  useful  service  rendered  by  the  cooperatives  is 
the  aid  they  give  to  those  agitators  and  propagandists 
of  the  labor  movement  who  have  been  blacklisted  by 
their  employers.  These  men  can  always  find  work  to 
do  in  the  cooperative  establishments,  and  still  have  time 
free  to  carry  on  their  propaganda. 

The  fourth  development  of  the  working-class  spirit  is 
the  Labor  Party  itself.  It  is  the  bond  which  unites  all 
the  various  activities.  It  is  meant  to  express  the 
views  and  aspirations  of  the  working  people  politically. 
The  party  has  now  in  parliament  30  deputies  and  seven 
senators.  In  the  municipal  councils  of  Belgium  it  has 
500  representatives,  and  its  total  socialist  vote  is  about 
half  a  million.  While  the  unions  fight  the  battles 
of  the  workers  on  the  economic  field,  and  endeavor  to 
force  the  employers  to  accord  them  better  conditions 
and  higher  wages,  the  cooperatives  strive  to  displace 
the  middle  man  in  commerce,  and  to  gain  for  the 
workers  immense  advantages  in  buying  the  necessaries 
of  life.  But  the  workers  of  Belgium  realize  that  neither 
of  these  efforts  alone  can  accomplish  their  complete 
emancipation.  They  do  not  undervalue  the  economic 
movements.       On    the    contrary,    they    promote     and 


THE  BELGIAN  LABOR  PARTY  1 49 

Strengthen  them  in  every  possible  way  ;  but  they  fully 
realize  that  so  long  as  the  capitalists  control  the  ma- 
chinery of  government,  the  workers  must  remain  a 
subject  class.  They,  therefore,  seek  to  conquer  the  gov- 
ernment, and  toward  this  end  the  party  carries  on  a 
ceaseless  propaganda  with  its  six  daily  papers,  reaching 
over  106,000  persons  daily,  22  weeklies,  and  14  month- 
lies. 

The  printing  establishment  of  the  Brussels  "  daily  " 
is  in  a  handsome  building,  with  spacious  quarters  and 
everything  required  for  publishing  a  first-class  daily 
paper.  There  are  large  editorial  offices,  light  and  airy 
workrooms  for  the  compositors,  and  ample  quarters  for 
the  five  large  presses.  The  biggest  press  was  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  printing  the  daily  papers  for  two  other 
towns  about  two  hours  from  Brussels.  On  another 
machine  an  illustrated  weekly  was  being  printed.  The 
Brussels  daily,  "  Le  Peuple,"  sells  for  one  cent,  while  the 
papers  for  the  smaller  towns  sell  for  two  centimes,  or 
less  than  a  half  cent.  The  committee  in  charge  of  the 
press  has  decided  recently  to  issue  a  new  daily  for  one 
centime,  or  one-fifth  of  a  cent.  This  gives  some  idea 
of  the  enterprise  and  business  methods  of  the  Belgian 
socialists. 

Of  course  there  are  efforts  made  in  other  direc- 
tions as  well  to  promote  the  propaganda.  A  large 
number  of  party  members  are  speaking  and  agitating 
all  the  time.  At  the  cooperative  theatres  socialist  plays 
are  given.  A  clever  method  of  spreading  the  party 
views  among  the  poorest  workers  is  through  the  medium 
of  cinematographs.  Between  scenes  there  are  shown 
mottoes,  and  short  phrases  expressing  socialist  opinions. 
Political  criticisms,  words  of  enthusiasm  and  revolt  are 


150  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

thrown  on  the  canvas,  and  in  this  way  the  poorest  and 
most  ill-educated  workers  gain  some  idea  of  the  aims 
of  socialism.  There  is  also  a  university  in  Brussels 
under  the  control  of  the  socialists. 

The  efficiency  of  the  Belgian  socialists  is  impressive. 
For  poor  working  men  to  have  built  up  these  great 
properties,  and  now  to  carry  them  on  with  such  ability, 
is  nothing  short  of  miraculous.  They  are  proving  in 
the  face  of  a  hostile  class  their  own  capacity,  and  learn- 
ing day  by  day  their  own  worth.  Collective  enterprise 
has  its  difficulties,  associated  effort  its  trials.  They 
are  learning  what  these  difficulties  and  trials  are ;  and 
they  are  also  learning  something  more  profound — how 
to  suppress  brutal  egoism,  and  how  to  serve  the  com- 
monweal. It  is  that  which  glorifies  the  Belgian  move- 
ment, and  gives  even  to  the  observer  a  profound  and 
comforting  spiritual  uplift.  But  the  workers  have  a  hard 
fight  against  a  reactionary  government,  which  never 
ceases  to  combat  their  cooperatives,  unions,  and  political 
party. 

To  the  workers  of  Belgium  nothing  has  been  given ; 
not  a  step  has  been  taken  without  suffering.  Indeed, 
it  was  misery  that  drove  them  together.  Their  own 
suffering  and  the  memory  of  martyred  brothers  have  so 
united  their  Hfe  and  spirit,  that  not  a  single  important 
division  has  occurred  in  the  movement  during  the  last 
twenty  years.  They  are  not  moved  by  doctrines,  and 
they  give  free  play  to  any  one  who  has  a  plan  for  re- 
lieving distress.  They  would  never  think  of  neglecting 
any  opportunity  open  to  them  to  fight  the  battle  of  the 
disinherited.  They  scorn  no  method ;  they  eagerly 
use  and  develop  all.  They  believe  in  cooperation,  in 
trade  unions,  in   municipal   ownership,  and   in  national 


THE   BELGIAN    LABOR   PARTY  151 

ownership;  they  believe  in  economic  action  and  in 
political  action  ;  indeed,  when  any  one  of  these  is  but 
weakly  developed,  the  whole  party  with  hearty  good- 
will devotes  all  the  energy  at  its  command  to  the 
task  of  strengthening  it.  While  others  have  been 
discussing  theories  and  quarrelhng  over  differences 
in  method,  the  working-class  movement  in  this  little 
paradise  of  the  capitalists  has  been  born  and  has 
grown  to  full  maturity. 

It  is  not  hard  to  explain  why  it  is  the  Belgian  working- 
class  is  so  fortunate,  or  why,  in  the  face  of  so  many 
difficulties,  it  is  able  to  accomplish  such  a  magnificent 
work-  It  has  learned  the  value  of  unity  and  the  power 
of  concerted  action.  The  advice  and  example  of 
old  Cesar  de  Paepe  was  ever  before  them.  He  coun- 
selled solidarity  the  day  the  party  was  born,  and  he 
never  ceased  urging  its  supreme  importance.  It  is, 
therefore,  significant  that  in  1890,  as  he  was  carried 
away  from  Brussels  to  die  in  Southern  France,  he 
should  have  written  these  words  to  the  then  assembled 
congress  of  the  party :  "  I  beg  of  you  one  permission, 
one  only.  Permit  an  old  socialist,  who  has  been  in  the 
breach  for  more  than  thirty-three  years,  and  who  has 
already  seen  so  many  ups  and  downs,  so  many  periods 
of  progress  and  of  reaction  in  the  revolutionary  Belgian 
parties,  to  give  you  counsel.  That  is  :  be  careful  above 
all,  in  all  your  deliberations  and  resolutions,  to  maintain 
among  the  diffarnt  factiotis  of  the  party  and  among 
the  more  or  less  extreme  or  moderate  tendencies  the 
closest  possible  nttion,  and  to  prevent  all  that  can  con- 
stitute even  a  suspicion  of  division.  Naturally  this 
implies  that  it  is  necessary  to  commence  by  forgetting 
the  divisions  that  have  existed  in  the  past.     To  divide 


152  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

you  in  order  the  better  to  oppress  you,  such  is  the  tactic 
of  your  enemies.  Flee  from  divisions ;  avoid  them ; 
crush  them  in  the  egg;  such  ought  to  he j'our  tactic, 
and  to  that  end  may  your  program  remain  the  broad- 
est possible,  and  your  title  remain  general  enough  to 
shelter  all  who,  in  the  Belgian  proletariat,  wish  to 
work  for  the  emancipation,  intellectual  and  material, 
political  and  economic,  of  the  mass  of  the  disinherited." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    PROGRAM    OF    SOCIALISM 

It  is  but  natural  that  the  reader  should  begin  to  ask, 
What  is  all  this  movement  about  ?  What  is  wanted  ? 
Why  this  extraordinary  organization  of  working  men 
in  every  country,  and  what  do  they  seek  to  accomplish  ? 
It  is  not  my  purpose  in  this  book  to  attempt  to  answer 
adequately  these  questions,  but  rather  to  describe  the 
movement,  and  to  convey  a  precise  impression  of  its 
present  influence;  I  must,  therefore,  refer  inquiring 
readers  to  other  books  which  treat  particularly  of  the 
aims  and  principles  of  socialism.*  Nevertheless,  I 
realize  the  necessity  for  a  brief  outline  here  of  the 
historic  basis  of  modern  socialism,  and  of  its  funda- 
mental doctrines. 

Many  people  appear  to  be  more  interested  in  the 
methods  by  which  socialists  endeavor  to  obtain  their 
ends  than  in  the  ends  themselves.  To  such  persons 
the  word  "  revolution  "  is  apt  to  signify  merely  a  question 
of  method,  confused,  therefore,  with  violence  and  in- 
surrection. When  socialists  use  the  term,  as  they  do 
frequently,  it  is  almost  invariably  without  any  implica- 
tion of  violence.  There  are  unquestionably  a  few  semi- 
anarchists  who  from  time  to  time  associate  themselves 
with  the  movement,  and  by  inflammatory  addresses 
convey  the    impression    that    the    sociahsts    expect   to 

*  See  p.  364. 
153 


ic^  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

attain  their  ends  by  resort  to  open  warfare.  Lieb- 
knecht  once  said,  "  The  frothy  and  theatrical  phrases 
of  the  fanatic  supporters  of  the  '  class  struggle  '  dogma 
are  at  bottom  a  cover  for  the  Machiavellian  schemes 
of  the  reactionaries."  In  nearly  every  country  such 
irresponsible  agitators  have  been  excluded  from  the 
movement.  But  while  modern  sociahsm  condemns 
violence,  it  is  everywhere  frankly  revolutionary. 

It  is  perhaps  too  much  to  expect  that  the  present 
struggle  between  labor  and  capital  should  proceed  at 
all  times  peacefully.     History  has  known  many  revolu- 
tions, nearly  all  of  which  have  been  the  culmination  of 
class  struggles,   wherein  the  force  of  the  people   has 
been  spent  without  their  knowing  precisely  what  they 
sought  to  attain.     Nearly  all  the  early  struggles,  as  for 
instance  the  struggle  of  the  serfs  against  their  masters, 
or  that  of  the   present  dominant  class  against  the  old 
feudal  landowning  aristocracy,  ended  in  violence  and 
bloodshed.     In  the  face  of  history,  therefore,  it  would 
seem  absurd  for  one  to  prophesy  concerning  the  out- 
come of  the  present  struggle  between  the  workers  and 
the  capitalists,  for  certainly  none  of  the  previous  up- 
risings were  as  truly  revolutionary  as  the  present.    And 
if  one  considers  that  when  the  contemplated  revolution 
is  accomplished  it  means  the  rise  to  power  of  the  work- 
ing-class, and  the  abolition  of  private  property  in  the 
means  of  production,  it  would  seem  almost  incredible 
that  it  should  take  place  in  all  countries  without  violence. 
Nevertheless    everywhere,    and    at   all    times,    the   re- 
sponsible leaders  urge  the  masses  to  pursue  a  peaceful 
political  course.     Marx  and  Engels  spent  a  good  part 
of  their  lives  trying  to  convert  the  working-class  from 
the   methods  of  violence,  conspiracy,  and  insurrection 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  1 55 

advocated  by  the  anarchists.  In  1850  Marx  resigned 
from  the  central  committee  of  the  famous  Communist 
Alliance  because  they  sought  to  substitute  "  revolu- 
tionary phrases  for  revolutionary  evolution " ;  and  he 
told  them  with  biting  sarcasm  that  they  would  very 
likely  have  to  go  through  a  half-century  of  preparation 
before  they  could  change  themselves  and  make  them- 
selves worthy  of  political  power. 

Both  Liebknecht  and  Jaures,  two  of  the  ablest  parlia- 
mentary leaders  the  socialist  movement  has  produced, 
have  again  and  again  spoken  of  the  necessity  for 
gaining  a  considerable  majority  of  the  people  before 
attempting  to  put  socialist  principles  into  operation. 
Liebknecht  says :  "  It  would  be  both  stupid  and  in- 
genuous to  exact  that  we  should  have  a  majority  sealed 
and  ready  in  our  pockets  before  we  began  to  apply  our 
principles.  But  it  would  be  still  more  ingenuous  to 
imagine  that  we  could  put  our  principles  into  practice 
against  the  will  of  the  immense  majority  of  the  nation. 
This  is  a  fatal  error,  for  which  the  French  socialists 
have  paid  dear.  Is  it  possible  to  put  up  a  more  heroic 
fight  than  did  the  workmen  of  Paris  and  Lyons .-'  And  ^ 
has  not  every  struggle  ended  in  a  bloody  defeat,  the 
most  horrible  reprisals  on  the  part  of  the  victors,  and  a 
long  period  of  exhaustion  for  the  proletariat  t  The 
French  workers  have  not  yet  fully  grasped  the  im- 
portance of  organization  and  propaganda,  and  that  is 
why  up  to  the  present  moment  they  have  been  beaten 
with  perfect  regularity.  .  .  .  Not  to  contract,  but  to 
expand,"  he  continues,  "  should  be  our  motto.  The 
circle  of  socialism  should  widen  more  and  more  jmtil 
we  have  converted  most  of  o?ir  adversaries  to  being 
friends,  or  at  least  disarmed  their  opposition.     And  the 


156  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

indifferent  mass  that  in  peaceful  days  has  no  weight 
in  the  political  balance,  but  becomes  the  decisive  force 
in  times  of  agitation,  ought  to  be  so  fully  enlightened 
as  to  the  aims  and  essential  ideas  of  our  party,  that  it 
will  cease  to  fear  us  and  can  no  longer  be  used  as  a 
weapon  against  us.  All  the  legislative  measures  which 
we  shall  support,  if  the  opportunity  is  given  us,  ought 
to  have  for  their  object  to  prove  tJie  fitness  of  socialism 
to  serve  tJie  common  good." 

This  is  very  much  the  line  of  argument  taken  by  the 
leaders  of  the  movement.  There  is  not  a  single  social- 
ist of  prominence  who  believes  that  a  change  in  condi- 
tions can  be  forced  upon  society  contrary  to  the  inherent 
social  forces  and  the  natural  evolutionary  processes  work- 
ing out  in  society.  For  the  first  time  perhaps  in  the 
history  of  the  world  a  constructive  revolutionary  move- 
ment is  forming  that  is  based  upon  a  definite  doctrine, 
scientifically  deduced  from  the  facts  of  history  and 
social  evolution.  Far  from  advocating  violence,  social- 
ism realizes,  even  more  than  its  opponents,  that  it  has 
all  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  the  peaceful  method. 
It  already  has  adherents  numbered  by  the  million,  its 
representatives  in  parliament,  its  exponents  in  literature, 
and  its  friends  in  every  class  of  society.  It  is  intelli- 
gently led  and  organized  in  almost  every  industrial 
centre  of  Western  Europe  for  study,  propaganda,  and 
political  action.  And  it  is  daily  increasing  in  strength. 
Why,  therefore,  should  it  seek  to  use  violence  or  to  en- 
courage insurrection,  both  of  which  means  are  to  a 
certain  extent  even  contradictory  to  its  principles  and 
its  method  of  organization  .? 

So  much  for  the  methods  of  contemporary  socialism. 
In  order  to  make  clear  the  basis  of  its  program  it  is 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  1 57 

necessary  briefly  to  review  modern  industrial  history, 
as  the  entire  socialist  doctrine  is  based  upon  the  eco- 
nomic evolution  of  the  last  century  and  a  half.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  last  great  revolution  placed  in 
power  the  capitalist  class.  Previous  to  that  time,  the 
trader,  the  man  of  commerce,  the  capitalist,  was  looked 
down  upon  by  the  landed  aristocracies  and  feudal  lords 
as  a  person  of  inferior  estate.  Men  of  business  had 
practically  no  political  standing,  and  the  old  aristocracies, 
in  order  to  maintain  their  privileges  and  unearned  in- 
comes, placed  many  intolerable  restrictions  upon  trade, 
commerce,  and  industry.  In  the  face  of  these  restric- 
tions capitalism  could  make  no  headway,  and  in  order 
to  gain  freedom  of  commerce  and  a  fuller  development 
of  industrial  life,  the  capitalists,  with  the  help  of  the 
masses,  broke  the  political  power  of  the  landed  aristoc- 
racies. The  result  of  this  revolution  was  a  marked 
change  in  the  relative  positions  of  the  various  classes  ; 
and  nearly  everywhere  the  landed  class  are  to-day  less 
powerful  in  government  than  the  trader,  the  man  of 
commerce,  and  the  capitalist,  all  of  whom  they  used  to 
look  down  upon  and  despise. 

With  the  advent  of  modern  capitalism  there  came 
into  the  world  a  new  class  called  wage-workers.  Their 
condition  differs  fundamentally  from  that  of  the  working- 
classes  in  the  earlier  periods  of  history.  The  workers 
were  first  slaves,  later  serfs,  and  just  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  capitalism,  the  main  body  of  them  were  peasants, 
artisans,  and  craftsmen.  The  artisans  and  craftsmen 
mostly  worked  in  their  own  homes,  with  their  own  tools, 
and  the  product  of  their  labor  was  almost  entirely  their  own. 
Excepting  for  such  rates,  rents,  and  dues  as  were  paid  to 
the  upper  classes  and  to  the  government,  the  workers  were 


158  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

largely  free  from  exploitation.  They  produced  mainly 
for  their  own  use,  and  it  was  common  in  those  days  for 
all  members  of  the  family  to  work  together  in  the  home, 
—  brewing,  baking,  dyeing,  weaving,  and  spinning.  On 
a  bit  of  soil  attached  to  the  cottage  many  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  were  grown,  and  only  the  most  wretched 
of  the  populace  were  without  livestock.  This  simple 
form  of  production  could  not  realize  great  wealth,  but 
there  was  little  starvation,  no  unemployment,  and,  ex- 
cepting when  the  crops  were  destroyed  through  natural 
causes,  the  people  were  able  to  live  tolerably  comfort- 
ably. The  peasant  sold  to  the  artisan  agricultural 
produce,  and  bought  from  him  the  products  of  his 
handicraft. 

At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  advent  of 
steam  power  altered  the  whole  method  of  production. 
This  period  is  called  in  history  the  industrial  revolution. 
The  spinning-wheel,  the  hand-loom,  the  blacksmith's 
hammer,  were  replaced  by  the  spinning  machine,  the 
power  loom,  and  the  steam  hammer.  The  individual 
workshop  was  replaced  by  the  factory.  Industrial 
cities  came  into  being,  and  milHons  of  people  in 
Western  Europe  left  their  small  homes,  abandoned 
their  cottage  industries,  to  live  in  great  tenements  and 
to  work  in  great  factories.  A  mighty  change  took 
place  in  the  industrial  life,  and  the  old  individual  form 
of  production  was  replaced  by  a  social  form  in  which 
masses  of  men  cooperated. 

This  gave  rise  to  modern  capitalism.  It  was  im- 
possible for  the  individual  workman  to  own  the  new 
tool.  It  was  large  and  costly  in  the  beginning, 
and  with  every  new  decade  it  grew  larger  and  more 
costly.     To-day  the  tool  is  a  vast  machine  run  by  steam 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  1 59 

or  electrical  power,  and  enclosed  in  great  buildings. 
In  the  early  days  of  this  new  form  of  industry  there 
were  crying  social  abuses.  The  people  were  herded 
together  in  the  worst  quarters,  in  great  and  insanitary 
barracks.  All  the  traditional  moral  bonds  of  the  old 
order  were  burst  asunder.  Women  and  children  worked 
underground  and  overground  like  beasts,  and  the  work- 
ing-class in  general  was  reduced  almost  to  a  state  of 
savagery. 

These  industrial  changes  revolutionized  the  face  of 
the  world.  Gigantic  wealth  was  made  possible.  Pro- 
duction for  domestic  use  was  replaced  by  production  for 
national  and  international  markets.  It  was  a  period  of 
feverish  competition,  of  stupendous  labor,  of  gigantic 
commercial  undertakings,  and  of  big  industrial  horizons. 
At  a  mighty  bound  the  capitalist  class  rose  to  a  domi- 
nant position  in  modern  life.  At  the  same  time  there 
came  into  the  world  newer  and  intenser  forms  of 
misery. 

Under  the  old  domestic  system  the  workman  could, 
so  long  as  he  had  health,  provide  himself  and  his  family 
with  the  necessaries  of  life.  If  his  skill  was  not  great, 
he  remained  poor ;  but  at  any  rate  he  earned  a  living. 
He  was  not  employed  or  unemployed  according  to  the 
will  of  another.  Under  the  new  regime  he  worked  only 
when  the  great  machine  worked.  He  sold  himself  day 
by  day  to  an  employer.  He  became  propertyless,  as  he 
could  neither  own  his  tools  nor  his  tenement.  In  other 
words  he  became  dependent,  first  upon  an  employer, 
second  upon  a  machine,  and  then  upon  the  state  of  the 
markets.  When  the  machine  stopped  working,  he  was 
instantly  deprived  of  the  means  of  life.  Without  fields 
in  which  he  could  work,  or  the  individual  tools  of  the 


l60  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

old  order,  he  was  precipitated  into  pauperism  by  the 
slightest  industrial  derangement.  His  wages  were 
little  more  than  sufificient  to  keep  him  and  his  family- 
while  he  was  at  work,  and  when  illness,  accident,  un- 
employment, or  death  occurred,  the  family  was  face  to 
face  with  misery.  In  the  old  order  there  was  a  certain 
security  of  existence ;  in  the  new  order  there  was  none. 
At  certain  periods  the  distress  of  the  working-classes 
became  acute.  Great  commercial  crises  and  financial 
convulsions  paralyzed  all  industry.  "  Since  1825,  when 
the  first  general  crisis  broke  out,"  says  Frederick  Engels, 
"  the  whole  industrial  and  commercial  world,  production 
and  exchange  among  all  civilized  peoples  and  their  more 
or  less  barbaric  hangers-on,  are  thrown  out  of  joint 
about  once  every  ten  years.  Commerce  is  at  a  standstill, 
the  markets  are  glutted,  products  accumulate,  as  multi- 
tudinous as  they  are  unsalable,  hard  cash  disappears, 
credit  vanishes,  factories  are  closed,  the  mass  of  the 
workers  are  in  want  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  because 
they  have  produced  too  much  of  the  means  of  subsistence; 
bankruptcy  follows  upon  bankruptcy,  execution  upon 
execution.  The  stagnation  lasts  for  years ;  productive 
forces  and  products  are  wasted  and  destroyed  wholesale, 
until  the  accumulated  mass  of  commodities  finally  filter 
off,  more  or  less  depreciated  in  value,  until  production 
and  exchange  gradually  begin  to  move  again.  Little  by 
little  the  pace  quickens.  It  becomes  a  trot.  The  in- 
dustrial trot  breaks  into  a  canter,  the  canter  in  turn 
grows  into  a  headlong  gallop  of  a  perfect  steeplechase 
of  industry,  commercial  credit,  and  speculation,  which 
finally,  after  breakneck  leaps,  ends  where  it  began  —  in 
the  ditch  of  a  crisis.  And  so  over  and  over  again.  We 
have  now,  since  the  year  1825,  gone  through  this  five 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  l6l 

times,  and  at  the  present  moment  (1877)  we  are  going 
through  it  for  the  sixth  time.  And  the  character  of 
these  crises  is  so  clearly  defined  that  Fourier  hit  all  of 
them  off,  when  he  described  the  first  as  *  crise  pletho- 
riqiic,'  —  a  crisis  from  plethora." 

These  industrial  paralyses  forced  the  attention  of  the 
capitalists  to  the  dangers  of  unrestricted  competition.  It 
was  a  new  kind  of  warfare  in  which  capitalists  destroyed 
each  other  in  commercial  and  industrial  battles.  At 
times,  the  whole  nation  stood  amazed  in  the  face  of 
these  appalling  crises.  With  no  lack  of  natural  oppor- 
tunities or  resources,  with  no  adverse  natural  conditions, 
with  superb  machines  and  great  factories,  with  an 
earnest  and  laborious  working-class,  the  empty  factories 
and  silent  machines  facing  millions  of  unemployed  and 
starving  men,  proved  above  all  the  necessity  of  ending 
the  competitive  warfare.  Thus  competition  gradually 
gave  way  to  monopoly.  One  capitalist,  it  is  said,  de- 
stroys many,  and  the  smaller  were  eaten  up  by  the 
larger,  until  to-day  in  all  the  great  countries  many  of  the 
most  important  industries  have  been  combined  into 
trusts.  The  very  conditions  of  modern  life  forced  it ; 
the  crises,  the  panics,  the  bankruptcies,  the  fearful 
periodic  disturbances  of  economic  life. 

Out  of  this  anarchy  of  industry  developed  great  organ- 
izations of  capital,  and  with  them  there  appeared  a  new 
class.  In  the  early  days  the  capitalists  were  mainly 
skilled  workmen  or  managers  possessing  a  small  amount 
of  capital,  or  in  a  position  to  borrow  capital.  They 
were  often  the  hardest  and  most  capable  workers  ;  but 
with  the  new  organization  of  industry,  and  especially 
with  the  enormous  increase  of  wealth,  the  capitalist 
became  more  and  more  divorced  from  actual  manage- 

M 


l62  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ment,  and  more  and  more  merely  the  owner  of  stocks 
and  bonds.  With  each  generation  this  evolution  is  more 
marked,  and  as  the  property  leaves  the  hands  of  the  old 
captains  of  industry  it  passes  into  the  hands  of  sons  and 
relatives  who  do  not  themselves  actively  participate  in 
industrial  operations.  A  new  class  begins  to  emerge, 
similar  in  many  respects  to  the  privileged  classes  of  the 
old  feudal  regime,  and  more  and  more  it  becomes  true  that 
from  the  moment  when  you  become  a  proprietor  of  land, 
of  houses,  or  of  the  machinery  of  production,  you  may 
as  Henry  George  says,  "  sit  down  and  smoke  your  pipe  ; 
you  may  lie  about  like  the  lazzaroni  of  Naples  or  the 
lepers  of  Mexico ;  you  may  go  up  in  a  balloon  or  dig  a 
hole  in  the  ground,  and  all  the  time,  without  any  act  of 
yours,  the  rent  of  the  house  and  farm,  and  the  interest 
on  your  other  capital,  will  keep  dropping  steadily  into 
your  hands." 

On  this  industrial  history  of  the  last  century  the 
socialist  program  is  based.  In  the  Communist  Mani- 
festo, published  in  1848,  Marx  gives  a  masterly  survey 
of  the  industrial  revolution  then  reaching  its  culmina- 
tion in  a  society  dominated  by  capitalism.  He  gives 
full  credit  to  the  vast  accomplishments  of  the  new  order 
when  he  says  that  during  its  rule  of  scarce  a  hundred 
years  it  "  has  created  more  massive  and  colossal  produc- 
tive forces  than  all  the  preceding  generations  together. 
Subjection  of  Nature's  forces  to  man,  machinery,  appli- 
cation of  chemistry  to  industry  and  agriculture,  steam 
navigation,  railways,  electric  telegraphs,  clearing  of 
whole  continents  for  cultivation,  canalization  of  rivers, 
whole  populations  conjured  out  of  the  ground  —  what 
earlier  century  had  even  a  presentiment  that  such  pro- 
ductive forces  slumbered  in  the  lap  of  social  labor .-' " 


THE   PROGRAM   OF  SOCIALISM  1 63 

At  the  same  time  Marx  points  out  that  modern  so- 
ciety, which  has  conjured  up  such  gigantic  means  of 
production  and  of  exchange,  is  Hke  the  sorcerer  who  is 
no  longer  able  to  control  the  powers  of  the  nether 
world  which  he  has  evoked  by  his  spells.  Like  the 
prince  in  the  fable,  another  writer  has  said,*  capitaHsm 
seems  to  have  released  from  his  prison  the  genie  of 
competition,  only  to  find  that  he  is  unable  to  control 
him.  The  poor,  the  drunk,  the  incompetent,  the  sick, 
the  aged,  ride  modern  society  like  a  nightmare,  and  the 
legislation  of  the  past  hundred  years  is  a  perpetual  and 
fruitless  effort  to  regulate  the  disorders  of  the  economic 
system. 

In  the  midst  of  this  chaos  Marx  saw  that  a  new  class 
was  being  formed,  the  modern  wage-workers,  which  was 
performing  all  the  important  industrial  functions,  while 
the  capitalists  were  becoming  less  and  less  important 
to  industry.  From  a  purely  scientific  point  of  view  it 
was  natural  that  the  useful  class  should  persist  and  the 
useless  class  be  thrown  aside.  At  least  it  was  incon- 
gruous that  the  useful  class  should  continue  to  be  the 
poorest  class,  and  especially  that  it  should  be  content 
to  suffer  the  insecurity  of  livelihood  made  inevitable 
by  the  capitalist  system.  That  men  should  consent  to 
be  employed  or  unemployed  at  the  caprice  of  a  class 
which  produced  for  the  sake  of  profit  only,  and  which 
stopped  all  production  when  the  profits  decreased,  was 
inconceivable.  The  machine  having  become  a  social 
necessity  must  be  owned  socially.  To  have  the  ma- 
chinery of  production  continue  in  the  ownership  of  a 
class  that  did  not  use  it,  and  used  by  a  class  that  did 
not  own  it,  was  not  only  economically  unsound,  but  so- 

*  "  Letters  from  a  Chinese  Official." 


1 64  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

cially  intolerable.  To  Marx's  mind  it  was  certain  that 
the  wage-workers,  the  producers,  who  bore  the  bur- 
dens of  modern  industry,  would  in  time  revolt  against 
the  growing  class  of  parasites  who  lived  upon  rents, 
interests,  profits,  and  other  forms  of  unearned  incomes. 
As  early  as  1848  Marx  described  the  tentative  struggles 
of  the  working-class  against  capitalism.  "  At  first,"  he 
says,  "  the  contest  is  carried  on  by  individual  laborers, 
then  by  the  workpeople  of  a  factory,  then  by  the  op- 
eratives of  one  trade,  in  one  locality,  against  the  indi- 
vidual bourgeois  who  directly  exploits  them.  They 
direct  their  attacks  not  against  the  capitalist  conditions 
of  production,  but  against  the  instruments  of  produc- 
tion themselves ;  they  destroy  imported  wares  that 
compete  with  their  labor,  they  smash  to  pieces  ma- 
chinery, they  set  factories  ablaze,  they  seek  to  restore 
by  force  the  vanished  status  of  the  workman  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  At  this  stage  the  laborers  still  form 
an  incoherent  mass  scattered  over  the  whole  country, 
and  broken  up  by  their  mutual  competition. 

"  With  the  development  of  industry,"  he  goes  on  to 
say,  "the  proletariat  not  only  increases  in  number;  it 
becomes  concentrated  in  greater  masses ;  its  strength 
grows,  and  it  feels  that  strength  more.  The  various 
interests  and  conditions  of  life  within  the  ranks  of  the 
proletariat  are  more  and  more  equalized,  in  proportion 
as  machinery  obliterates  all  distinctions  of  labor,  and 
nearly  everywhere  reduces  wages  to  the  same  low  level. 
The  growing  competition  among  the  capitalists,  and 
the  resulting  commercial  crises,  make  the  wages  of 
the  workers  ever  more  fluctuating.  The  unceasing 
improvement  of  machinery,  ever  more  rapidly  devel- 
oping, makes  their  livelihood  more    and    more   preca- 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  165 

rious ;  the  collisions  between  individual  workmen  and 
individual  capitalists  take  more  and  more  the  character 
of  collisions  between  two  classes.  .  .  .  Now  and  then 
the  workers  are  victorious,  but  only  for  a  time.  The 
real  fruit  of  their  battles  lies,  not  in  the  immediate  re- 
sult, but  in  the  ever  expanding  union  of  the  workers.^' 

The  fundamental  cause  of  this  class  antagonism  is 
the  individual  ownership  of  the  means  of  production. 
To  eliminate  class  strife,  and  to  harmonize  the  interests 
of  society,  it  is  necessary  to  socialize  these  means  of 
production.  Marx,  however,  takes  a  very  broad  view 
of  the  evolutionary  process  which  will  end  by  consti- 
tuting a  new  and  social  form  of  ownership  of  capi- 
tal. He  did  not  believe  it  would  proceed  in  any 
foreordained  way.  In  the  program  of  the  Social 
Democratic  Party  of  Germany,  which  his  disciples 
framed,  there  is  no  suggestion  of  national  or  munici- 
pal ownership.  His  view  was  far  broader  and  more 
comprehensive,  based  as  it  was  upon  scientific  and 
historical  principles.  First  of  all  he  advocated  the 
organization  of  working  men,  of  a  nation  within  a 
nation,  of  the  useful  class  against  the  useless  class. 
He  wanted  the  working-class  to  realize  consciously 
their  power  and  the  historic  role  they  must  play  in 
the  evolution  of  industry.  To  teach  the  working-class 
self-reliance  and  self-respect,  to  educate  them,  and  to 
organize  them  politically  and  economically  in  order 
that  they  should  take  into  their  own  hands  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  state,  are  fundamental  principles  of 
Marxism,  The  measures  by  which  socialism  would  be 
introduced  must  vary  in  different  countries  in  relation 
to  the  political  and  social  institutions  of  the  country. 
Marx,  therefore,  did  not  prescribe  definitely  how  the 


1 66  SOCIALISTS   AT    WORK 

capital  essential  to  industry  should  be  socialized.  The 
first  and  most  important  step  toward  that  end  was 
the  complete  organization  of  the  working-class  on  the 
political  and  economic  fields  in  order  that  they  might 
become  conscious  of  their  power,  and  in  truth  the 
arbiters  of  their  own  destiny. 

Toward  this  end  all  socialist  parties  are  working. 
The  working-class  is  developing  self-reliance,  self- 
respect,  and  political  capacity.  It  has  already,  as  I 
have  shown,  its  own  press,  its  congresses  or  parlia- 
ments, national  and  international,  that  meet  together 
to  discuss  the  program  and  tactics  of  the  party,  and 
the  methods  of  taking  into  its  own  hands  modern  in- 
dustrial operations.  Besides  its  political  organization, 
with  its  men  in  parliaments  and  municipal  councils, 
it  has  also  organized  in  all  lands  its  trade  unions,  which 
also  have  a  press,  a  literature,  a  program,  and  parlia- 
ments, national  and  international.  In  Belgium,  Eng- 
land, and  elsewhere,  great  cooperative  enterprises  are 
conducted  by  the  working-class  ;  so  that  at  present  the 
second  largest  commercial  undertaking  in  England  is 
owned  by  the  workers,  and  one  of  the  largest  in  Bel- 
gium by  the  socialists.  In  other  words,  the  movement 
is  forcing  its  way,  politically,  industrially,  and  commer- 
cially, into  power.  Very  much  the  same  methods  that 
the  capitalist  class  used  in  the  old  feudal  regime  the 
rising  working-class  is  using  to  undermine  the  princi- 
ples, privileges,  and  power  of  the  present  order. 

At  the  moment,  some  of  the  largest  industries  in  the 
world  are  managed  and  worked  by  paid  presidents, 
managers,  superintendents,  skilled  and  unskilled  ma- 
chine operators,  and  general  laborers ;  that  is  to  say, 
by  the  working-class.     It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  167 

that  the  Vanderbilts  are  essential  to  the  conduct  of  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad,  or  that  Mr.  Astor  is  essen- 
tial to  the  management  of  his  landed  property ;  and 
Mr.  Rockefeller,  it  is  said,  confesses  to  "  an  ignorance 
of  the  affairs  of  his  great  concern  which  should  cause 
his  immediate  removal  by  any  sane  board  of  directors." 
Whether  the  latter  is  true  or  not  is  not  important.  In 
the  next  generation  the  affairs  of  this  gigantic  enter- 
prise will  be  largely  managed  by  paid  employees.  The 
capitalists  have  organized  industry  so  well  that  they 
have  organized  themselves  out  of  it.  They  are  in  most 
instances  no  longer  essential  to  it.  This  industrial  evo- 
lution which  has  given  to  salaried  men  and  wage-work- 
ers the  management  and  superintendence  of  industry 
will  only  complete  itself  when  the  workers  themselves 
own  the  capital.  Little  by  little  they  gain  force,  and 
day  by  day  become  more  fully  conscious  of  their  own 
power  and  the  role  they  are  to  play  in  this  evolution 
leading  toward  the  socialization  of  industry. 

This  is  briefly  the  historic  and  economic  basis  that 
forms  the  groundwork  of  the  socialist  contention.  A 
similar  resume  accompanies  all  the  various  national  pro- 
grams, either  as  a  statement  of  principles,  or  an  intro- 
duction to  the  immediate  demands.  One  can  take  up 
the  program  of  any  one  of  the  national  parties,  and 
find  in  all  very  much  the  same  thought  expressed. 
Where  there  exists  a  difference,  it  is  not  so  much  due  to 
a  critical  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  socialists,  as  it  is  to 
the  belief  that  local  color  will  add  to  the  effectiveness  of 
the  general  statement.  I  have  chosen  to  take  as  an  ex- 
ample of  these  official  programs  the  one  adopted  by  the 
German  party,  because  it  has  served  as  the  basis  of 
many  others.     It  was  the  work  of  the  closest  friends 


1 68  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

and  most  enthusiastic  disciples  of  Marx,  and  was  almost 
a  literal  following  out  of  his  instructions.  It,  therefore, 
has  exceptional  value  from  a  documentary  point  of  view, 
and  while  it  is  heavy  and  rather  technical,  it  has  the 
advantage  of  being  authoritative. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  German  program  epitomizes 
what  I  have  already  said,  and  it  is  in  fact  a  condensation 
of  the  fundamental  position  of  contemporary  socialism. 
Most  of  the  doctrines  were  first  stated  in  the  Communist 
Manifesto  published  in  1848.  They  were  then  adopted 
in  1869  as  the  basis  of  the  first  Social  Democratic  Labor 
Party  in  Germany ;  but  in  1875,  in  order  to  achieve  unity 
between  the  Lassallians  and  the  Marxists  the  program 
was  altered,  and  many  ideas  of  Lassalle  were  accepted 
in  the  face  of  the  very  vigorous  opposition  of  Marx. 
Finally,  however,  in  1891  the  German  congress  revised 
its  program,  and  adopted  a  thorough  and  comprehensive 
Marxian  position.  The  thought  of  contemporary  social- 
ism has,  therefore,  remained  almost  unchanged  for  over 
half  a  century.  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  criticism 
of  its  main  doctrines.  The  progressive  concentration  of 
capital,  which  is  the  subject  of  the  first  and  second  para- 
graphs, has  been  severely  criticised.  The  increasing 
misery  of  the  masses  has  been  denied,  and  the  class 
struggle  has  been  the  subject  of  very  lively  debates  both 
inside  and  outside  the  party.  The  great  discussion  which 
occurred  between  Kautsky  and  Bernstein  a  few  years 
ago  was  really  based  upon  a  consideration  of  these  doc- 
trines of  the  party,  but  although  the  discussion  created 
an  immense  interest  outside  of  the  party,  the  political 
organizations  in  every  country  have  remained  faithful  to 
the  older  views,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  masses  to  ask  for  a  revision. 


THE  PROGRAM  OF   SOCIALISM  169 

The  Erfurt  Social  Democratic  Program 
OF  October,  1891 

The  economic  development  of  industrial  society  tends  inevi- 
tably to  the  ruin  of  small  industries,  which  are  based  upon  the 
workman's  private  ownership  of  the  means  of  production.  It 
separates  him  from  these  means  of  production,  and  converts 
him  into  a  destitute  member  of  the  proletariat,  whilst  a  com- 
paratively small  number  of  capitalists  and  great  landowners 
obtain  a  monopoly  of  the  means  of  production. 

Hand  in  hand  with  this  growing  monopoly  goes  the  crushing 
out  of  existence  of  these  shattered  small  industries  by  industries 
of  colossal  growth,  the  development  of  the  tool  into  the  machine, 
and  a  gigantic  increase  in  the  productiveness  of  human  labor. 
But  all  the  advantages  of  this  revolution  are  monopolized  by  the 
capitalists  and  great  landowners.  To  the  proletariat  and  to  the 
rapidly  sinking  middle  classes,  the  small  tradesmen  of  the  towns, 
and  the  peasant  proprietors,  it  brings  an  increasing  uncertainty 
of  existence,  increasing  misery,  oppression,  servitude,  degrada- 
tion, and  exploitation. 

Ever  greater  grows  the  mass  of  the  proletariat,  ever  vaster 
the  army  of  the  unemployed,  ever  sharper  the  contrast  between 
oppressors  and  oppressed,  ever  fiercer  that  war  of  classes  between 
bourgeoisie  and  proletariat  which  divides  modern  society  into 
two  hostile  camps,  and  is  the  common  characteristic  of  every 
industrial  country.  The  gulf  between  the  propertied  classes 
and  the  destitute  is  widened  by  the  crises  arising  from  capitalist 
production,  which  becomes  daily  more  comprehensive  and  om- 
nipotent, which  makes  universal  uncertainty  the  normal  condi- 
tion of  society,  and  which  furnishes  a  proof  that  the  forces  of 
production  have  outgrown  the  existing  social  order,  and  that 
private  ownership  of  the  means  of  production  has  become  in- 
compatible with  their  full  development  and  their  proper  appli- 
cation. 

Private  ownership  of  the  means  of  production,  formerly  the 


170  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

means  of  securing  his  product  to  the  producer,  has  now  become 
the  means  of  expropriating  the  peasant  proprietors,  the  artisans, 
and  the  small  tradesmen,  and  placing  the  non-producers,  the 
capitalists,  and  large  landowners  in  possession  of  the  products 
of  labor.  Nothing  but  the  conversion  of  capitaHst  private 
ownership  of  the  means  of  production — the  earth  and  its 
fruits,  mines,  and  quarries,  raw  material,  tools,  machines,  means 
of  exchange  —  into  social  ownership,  and  the  substitution  of 
socialist  production,  carried  on  by  and  for  society  in  the  place 
of  the  present  production  of  commodities  for  exchange,  can 
effect  such  a  revolution,  that,  instead  of  large  industries  and  the 
steadily  growing  capacities  of  common  production  being,  as 
hitherto,  a  source  of  misery  and  oppression  to  the  classes  whom 
they  have  despoiled,  they  may  become  a  source  of  the  highest 
well-being  and  of  the  most  perfect  and  comprehensive  har- 
mony. 

This  social  revolution  involves  the  emancipation,  not  merely 
of  the  proletariat,  but  of  the  whole  human  race,  which  is  suf- 
fering under  existing  conditions.  But  this  emancipation  can  be 
achieved  by  the  working-class  alone,  because  all  other  classes, 
in  spite  of  their  mutual  strife  of  interests,  take  their  stand  upon 
the  principle  of  private  ownership  of  the  means  of  production, 
and  have  a  common  interest  in  maintaining  the  existing  social 
order. 

The  struggle  of  the  working-classes  against  capitalist  exploita- 
tion must  of  necessity  be  a  political  struggle.  The  working- 
classes  can  neither  carry  on  their  economic  struggle  nor  develop 
their  economic  organization  without  political  rights.  They 
cannot  effect  the  transfer  of  the  means  of  production  to  the 
community  without  being  first  invested  with  political  power. 

It  must  be  the  aim  of  social  democracy  to  give  conscious 
unanimity  to  this  struggle  of  the  working-classes,  and  to  indicate 
the  inevitable  goal. 

The  interests  of  the  working-classes  are  identical  in  all  lands 
governed  by  capitalist  methods  of  production.     The  extension 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  17I 

of  the  world's  commerce  and  production  for  the  world's  markets 
make  the  position  of  the  workman  in  any  one  country  daily  more 
dependent  upon  that  of  the  workman  in  other  countries.  There- 
fore, the  emancipation  of  labor  is  a  task  in  which  the  workmen 
of  all  civilized  lands  have  a  share.  Recognizing  this,  the  Social 
Democrats  of  Germany  feel  and  declare  themselves  at  one 
with  the  workmen  of  every  land,  who  are  conscious  of  the 
destinies  of  their  class. 

The  German  Social  Democrats  are  not,  therefore,  fighting 
for  new  class  privileges  and  rights,  but  for  the  abolition  of  class 
government,  and  even  of  classes  themselves,  and  for  universal 
equality  in  rights  and  duties,  without  distinction  of  sex  or  rank. 
Holding  these  views,  they  are  not  merely  fighting  against  the 
exploitation  and  oppression  of  the  wage-earners  in  the  existing 
social  order,  but  against  every  kind  of  exploitation  and  oppres- 
sion, whether  directed  against  class,  party,  sex,  or  race. 

Following  the  above  general  statement  of  principles 
come  the  immediate  demands.  I  have  not  included 
these  because  they  apply  particularly  to  German  con- 
ditions, and  an  American  would  gain  from  them  little 
idea  of  what  the  socialists  are  trying  to  obtain  in  the 
way  of  specific  reforms.  Naturally  these  demands  vary 
in  each  country  according  to  the  stage  of  political  democ- 
racy, the  advance  in  labor  legislation,  and  the  extent  of 
social  reform.  In  Germany  autocratic  institutions  force 
the  party  to  make  demands  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
make  in  England,  and  in  America  the  party  is  forced  to 
demand  labor  legislation  which  exists  already  in  Germany. 
For  this  reason  no  one  program  conveys  a  complete  idea 
of  this  phase  of  socialist  activity.  This  objection  applies 
with  considerable  force  to  the  Belgian  program,  which  I 
have  thought  advisable  to  use,  but  as  it  is  in  many 
ways  the  most  perfect  in  structure  and  completeness  that 


172  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

I  have  happened  to  see,  it  will  serve  as  a  very  useful 
guide  to  the  reader. 

PoLFTiCAL  Program  of  the  Belgian  Labor  Pariy 

Electoral  Reform.  —  Universal  suffrage  without  distinction 
of  sex  for  all  ranks  (age  limit,  twenty-one  ;  residence,  six 
months) ;  proportional  representation ;  election  expenses  to  be 
charged  on  the  public  authorities ;  payment  of  elected  persons ; 
elected  persons  to  be  bound  by  pledges  according  to  law  ; 
electorates  to  have  the  right  of  unseating  elected  persons. 

Decentralization  of  Political  Power.  —  Suppression  of  the 
Senate  ;  creation  of  legislative  councils,  representing  the  differ- 
ent functions  of  society  (industry,  commerce,  agriculture,  edu- 
cation, etc.)  ;  such  councils  to  be  autonomous,  within  the 
limits  of  their  competence,  except  from  the  veto  of  parUament ; 
and  to  be  federated  for  the  study  and  defence  of  their  common 
interests. 

Communal  Autonomy.  —  Mayors  to  be  nominated  by  the 
electorate  ;  small  communes  tp  be  fused  or  federated  ;  creation 
of  elected  committees  corresponding  to  the  different  branches 
of  communal  administration. 

Direct  Legislation.  —  Right  of  popular  initiative  and  ref- 
erendum in  legislative,  provincial,  and  communal  matters. 

Reform  of  Education.  —  Primary,  all-round,  free,  secular, 
compulsory  instruction  at  the  expense  of  the  state  ;  maintenance 
by  public  authorities  of  children  attending  the  schools ;  inter- 
mediate and  higher  instruction  to  be  free,  secular,  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  state ;  assimilation  of  communal  teachers  to 
the  state's  educational  officials ;  creation  of  a  superior  council 
of  education,  elected  by  the  school  committees,  who  are  to  or- 
ganize the  inspection  and  control  of  free  schools  and  of  official 
schools ;  organization  of  trade  education,  and  obligation  of  all 
children  to  learn  manual  work ;  autonomy  of  the  state  univer- 
sities, and  legal  recognition  of  the  free  universities ;  university 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  SOCIALISM  '         1 73 

extension  to  be  organized  at  the  expense  of  the  public  authori- 
ties. 

Separation  of  the  Churches  and  the  State.  —  Suppression  of 
the  grant  for  pubHc  worship ;  philosophic  or  religious  associa- 
tions to  be  civil  persons  at  law. 

Revision  of  Sections  in  the  Civil  Code  concerning  Marriage 
and  the  Paternal  Authority.  —  Civil  equality  of  the  sexes,  and 
of  children,  whether  legitimate  or  illegitimate ;  revision  of  the 
divorce  laws,  maintaining  the  husband's  liability  to  support  the 
wife  or  the  children;  inquiry  into  paternity  to  be  legalized; 
protective  measures  in  favor  of  children  materially  or  morally 
abandoned. 

Judicial  Reform.  —  Application  of  the  elective  principle 
to  all  jurisdictions ;  reduction  of  the  number  of  magistrates ; 
justice  without  fees ;  state  payment  of  advocates  and  officials 
of  the  courts ;  magisterial  examination  in  penal  cases  to  be 
public  ;  persons  prosecuted  to  be  medically  examined  ;  victims 
of  judicial  errors  to  be  indemnified. 

Extension  of  Liberties.  —  Suppression  of  measures  restrict- 
ing any  of  the  liberties. 

Suppression  of  Armies.  —  Organization  provisionally  of 
national  militia. 

Suppression  of  hereditary  offices,  and  establishment  of  a 
republic. 

Economic  Program.  —  General  Measures 

Organization  of  Statistics.  —  Creation  of  a  ministry  of  labor ; 
pecuniary  aid  from  the  public  authorities  for  the  organization 
of  labor  secretariats  by  workmen  and  employers. 

Legal  Recognition  of  Associations.  —  Especially  of  trade 
unions  ;  reform  of  the  law  on  friendly  societies  and  cooperative 
societies,  and  subsidies  from  the  public  authorities ;  repression 
of  infringements  of  the  right  of  combination. 

Legal  Regulation  of  the  Contract  of  Employment.  —  Exten- 
sion to  all  industries  of  laws  protecting  labor,  and  especially 


1/4  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

to  agriculture,  shipping,  and  fishing;  fixing  of  a  minimum 
wage  and  maximum  of  hours  of  labor  for  workers,  industrial 
or  agricultural,  employed  by  the  state,  the  communes,  the 
provinces,  or  the  contractors  for  public  works ;  intervention 
of  workers,  and  especially  of  workers'  unions,  in  the  framing  of 
rules;  suppression  of  fines,  suppression  of  workshop  savings- 
banks  and  benefit  clubs ;  fixing  a  maximum  of  6000  francs 
for  public  servants  and  managers. 

Transformation  of  Public  Charity  into  a  General  Insurance 
of  all  Citizens.  —  Against  unemployment ;  against  disablement 
(sickness,  accident,  old  age) ;  against  death  (widows  and 
orphans). 

Reorganization  of  Public  Finances.  —  Abolition  of  indirect 
tax-es,  especially  taxes  on  food  and  customs  tariffs  ;  monopoly  of 
alcohol  and  tobacco  ;  progressive  income  tax  ;  taxes  on  legacies 
and  gifts  between  the  living  (excepting  gifts  to  works  of  public 
utility)  ;  suppression  of  intestate  succession,  except  in  the  direct 
line  and  within  limits  to  be  determined  by  the  law. 

Progressive  Extension  of  Public  Property.  —  The  state  to 
take  over  the  National  Bank ;  social  organization  of  loans,  at 
interest  to  cover  costs  only,  to  individuals  and  to  associations 
of  workers ;  abolition  on  grounds  of  public  utility,  of  private 
ownership  in  mines,  quarries,  the  subsoil  generally,  and  of 
the  great  means  of  production  and  transport ;  nationalization 
of  forests  ;  reconstitution  or  development  of  common  lands  ; 
progressive  taking  over  of  the  land  by  the  state  or  the 
communes. 

Autonomy  of  Public  Services.  —  Administration  of  the  public 
services  by  special  autonomous  commissions,  under  the  control 
of  the  state ;  creation  of  committees  elected  by  the  em- 
ployees of  the  public  services  to  discuss  with  the  central  ad- 
ministration the  conditions  of  the  remuneration  and  organization 
of  labor. 

Particular  Measures  for  Industrial  Workers  :  — 

Abolition  of  all  laws  restricting  the  right  of  combination. 


THE   PROGRAM   OF   SOCIALISM  1 75 

Regulation  of  Industrial  Labor.  —  Prohibition  of  employ- 
ment of  children  under  fourteen ;  half-time  system  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen  ;  prohibition  of  employment 
of  women  in  all  industries  where  it  is  incompatible  with 
morals  or  health  ;  reduction  of  working-day  to  a  maximum 
of  eight  hours  for  adults  of  both  sexes,  minimum  wage ;  pro- 
hibition of  night-work  for  all  categories  of  workers  and  in  all 
industries,  where  this  mode  of  working  is  not  absolutely 
necessary ;  one  day's  rest  per  week,  so  far  as  possible  on  Sun- 
day; responsibility  of  employers  in  case  of  accidents,  and 
appointment  of  doctors  to  attend  persons  injured  ;  workmen's 
memorandum  books  and  certificates  to  be  abolished,  and  their 
use  prohibited. 

Inspection  of  Work.  —  Employment  of  paid  medical  authori- 
ties, in  the  interests  of  labor  hygiene  ;  appointment  of  inspect- 
ors by  the  councils  of  industry  and  labor. 

Reorganization  of  the  Industrial  Tribunals  and  the  Councils 
of  Industry  and  Labor.  —  Working  women  to  have  votes  and 
be  eligible ;  submission  to  the  courts  to  be  compulsory. 

Regulation  of  work  in  prisons  and  convents. 

Particular  Measures  for  Agricultural  Workers  :  — 

Reorganization  of  the  Agricultural  Courts.  —  Nomination  of 
delegates  in  equal  numbers  by  the  landowners,  farmers,  and 
laborers ;  intervention  of  the  chambers  in  individual  or  collec- 
tive disputes  between  landowners,  farmers,  and  agricultural 
laborers ;  fixing  of  a  minimum  wage  by  the  public  authorities 
on  the  proposition  of  the  agricultural  courts. 

Regulation  of  Contracts  to  pay  Farm  Rents.  —  Fixing  of  the 
rate  of  farm  rents  by  committees  of  arbitration  or  by  the 
reformed  agricultural  courts ;  compensation  to  the  outgoing 
farmer  for  enhanced  value  of  property  ;  participation  of  land- 
owners to  a  wider  extent  than  that  fixed  by  the  Civil  Code,  in 
losses  incurred  by  farmers;  suppression  of  the  landowners' 
privilege. 

Insurance  by  the  provinces,  and  reinsurance  by  the  state, 


176  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

against  epizootic  diseases,  diseases  of  plants,  hail,  floods,  and 
other  agricultural  risks. 

Organization  by  the  Public  Authorities  of  Free  Agricultural 
Education.  —  Creation  or  development  of  experimental  fields, 
model  farms,  agricultural  laboratories. 

Purchase  by  the  commune  of  agricultural  implements  to  be 
at  the  disposal  of  their  inhabitants  ;  assignment  of  common 
lands  to  groups  of  laborers  engaging  not  to  employ  wage-labor. 

Organization  of  a  free  medical  service  in  the  country. 

Reform  of  the  Game  Laws.  —  Suppression  of  gun  licenses  ; 
suppression  of  game  preserves  ;  right  of  cultivators  to  destroy 
all  the  year  round  animals  which  injure  crops. 

Intervention  of  Public  Authorities  in  the  Creation  of  Agricul- 
tural Cooperative  Societies.  —  For  buying  seed  and  manure  ; 
for  making  butter  ;  for  the  purchase  and  use  in  common  of 
agricultural  machines  ;  for  the  sale  of  produce  ;  for  the  work- 
ing of  land  by  groups. 

Organization  of  agricultural  credit. 

Communal  Program 

Educational  Reforms.  —  Free  scientific  instruction  for  chil- 
dren up  to  fourteen  ;  special  courses  for  older  children  and 
adults ;  organization  of  education  in  trades  and  industries,  in 
cooperation  with  workmen's  organizations  ;  maintenance  of 
children,  except  where  the  state  intervenes  to  do  so  ;  institu- 
tion of  school  refreshment  rooms  ;  periodic  distribution  of 
boots  and  clothing;  orphanages;  establishments  for  children 
abandoned  or  cruelly  ill-treated. 

Judicial  Reforms.  —  Ofiice  for  consultations  free  of  charge 
in  cases  coming  before  the  law-courts,  the  industrial  courts, 
etc. 

Regulation  of  Work.  — Minimum  wage  and  maximum  work- 
ing day  to  be  made  a  clause  in  contracts  for  communal  works ; 
intervention  of  trade  associations  in  the  fixing  of  rates  of  wages, 


THE   PROGRAM   OF  SOCIALISM  177 

and  general  regulation  of  industry ;  the  echevin  of  public  works 
to  supervise  the  execution  of  these  clauses  in  contracts  ;  ap- 
pointment by  the  workmen's  associations  of  inspectors  to 
supervise  the  clauses  in  contracts  ;  rigorous  application  of  the 
principle  of  tenders  open  to  all,  for  all  services  which,  during  a 
transition  period,  are  not  managed  directly  ;  permission  to 
trade  unions  to  tender,  and  abolition  of  security-deposit ; 
creation  of  Bourses  du  Travail,  or  at  least  offices  for  the  de- 
mand and  supply  of  employment,  whose  administration  shall 
be  entrusted  to  trade  unions  or  labor  associations  ;  fixing  of  a 
minimum  wage  for  the  workmen  and  employees  of  a  commune. 
Public  Charity. — Admission  of  workmen  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  councils  of  hospitals  and  of  public  charity  ;  trans- 
formation of  public  charity  and  the  hospitals  into  a  system  of 
insurance  against  old  age ;  organization  of  a  medical  service 
and  drug  supply  ;  establishment  of  public  free  baths  and  wash- 
houses  ;  establishment  of  refuges  for  the  aged  and  disabled  ; 
night-shelter  and  food-distribution  for  workmen  wandering  in 
search  of  work. 

Complete  neutrality  of  all  communal  services  from  the  philo- 
sophical point  of  view. 

Finance.  —  Saving  to  be  effected  on  present  cost  of  admin- 
istration ;  maximum  allowance  of  6000  francs  for  mayors  and 
other  officials  ;  costs  of  entertainment  for  mayors  who  must 
incur  certain  private  expenses  ;  income-tax  ;  special  tax  on 
sites  not  built  over  and  houses  not  let. 

Public  Services. — The  commune  or  a  federation  of  com- 
munes composing  one  agglomeration,  to  work  the  means  of 
transport,  tramways,  omnibuses,  cabs,  district  railways,  etc. ; 
and  to  work  directly  the  services  of  general  interest  at  present 
conceded  to  companies,  lighting,  water-supply,  markets,  high- 
ways, heating,  security,  health  ;  compulsory  insurance  of  the 
inhabitants  against  fire,  except  where  the  state  intervenes  to  do 
so  ;  construction  of  cheap  dwellings  by  the  commune,  the 
hospices,  and  the  charity  offices. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SOCIALISM    AND    SOCIAL    REFORM 

It  is  difficult  nowadays  for  socialists  to  keep  the  de- 
tails of  their  immediate  program  in  advance  of  legisla- 
tion. For  more  than  a  half  century  socialist  and  labor 
programs  advocated  the  abolition  of  child  labor  without 
finding  any  considerable  sympathetic  response  on  the 
part  of  the  general  public.  Only  a  few  years  ago  a 
child-labor  law  was  considered  an  unwarrantable  inter- 
ference with  the  free  conduct  of  capitalist  enterprise. 
To-day  the  legislation  in  some  countries  is  in  advance  of 
the  specific  demand  made  by  one  or  two  of  the  socialist 
parties.  There  was  a  time  when  the  socialists  alone 
advocated  national  and  municipal  ownership  of  public 
utilities  ;  to-day  it  is  advocated  by  all  the  more  advanced 
parties.  A  few  years  ago  land  municipalization  would 
have  been  hailed  as  a  revolution  of  the  first  order.  To- 
day there  are  few  municipalities  in  Europe  that  do  not 
see  the  necessity  for  radical  reform  in  the  ownership  of 
land  if  slums  are  to  be  abohshed.  There  are  various 
causes  for  this  extraordinary  change  in  public  policy, 
but  few  will  deny  that  the  credit  for  it  belongs  mainly 
to  the  growing  socialist  movement. 

The  old  parties  quite  naturally  combat  the  intrusion 
of  the  new  ideas.  When  the  socialists  in  the  legislative 
bodies  endeavor  to  carry  out  their  program,  their  meas- 
ures are  bitterly  assailed  by  the   opposition;    but   the 

178 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  1 79 

socialists  use  such  opportunities  to  review  the  evils  of 
existing  conditions  and  the  necessity  for  reform,  with 
the  result  that  the  community  becomes  aroused.  The 
opposition,  who  first  attack  a  socialist  measure  as  crimi- 
nal and  vicious,  then  as  well-intentioned  but  impracti- 
cal, finally,  after  as  much  delay  as  possible,  reintro- 
duce the  measure  in  as  weak  a  form  as  they  dare 
submit  it,  and  pass  it  as  a  great  and  virtuous  public 
act.  It  is  not,  I  think,  an  exaggeration  to  state  that  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  this  is  the  legislative  history 
of  most  of  the  important  measures  in  the  interest  of 
labor  passed  during  the  last  twenty  years.  The  social- 
ists are  rarely  permitted  to  pass  legislation,  but  in  the 
way  described  they  are  really  the  directing  force  in 
nearly  all  the  continental  legislative  bodies.  In  other 
words,  the  old  parties  are  gradually  being  forced  to  fol- 
low the  line  of  the  immediate  demands  of  the  socialist 
program. 

But  quite  aside  from  this  influence  over  the  course  of 
legislation  the  socialists  are  doing  a  notable  work  in 
gradually  breaking  down  that  ancient  and  honorable 
form  of  political  corruption  which  is  inherent  in  class 
government.  The  patriotic  citizens  of  foreign  countries 
will  tell  you  that  corruption  does  not  exist,  and  one 
must  admit  that  there  is  a  difference  in  the  corruption 
abroad  and  that  which  obtains  with  us.  Legislators  are 
rarely  bought.  But  then  it  is  unnecessary,  as  in  most 
cases  the  "traction  magnates,"  the  "gas  thieves,"  etc., 
—  as  we  are  disposed  to  call  them,  —  where  there  are 
any  left,  are  themselves  members  of  legislative  bodies. 
It  is  obviously  unnecessary  to  buy  themselves.  The 
difference  between  corruption  there  and  here  is  that 
we  elect  Tim  Sullivan,  Hinky  Dink,  and  Johnny  Powers 


l80  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

to  our  municipal  councils.  No  power  on  earth  could 
induce  us  to  elect  Thomas  F.  Ryan,  August  Bel- 
mont, or  Yerkes.  But  unfortunately  Ryan  and  his 
friends  have  as  their  personal  representatives  Sullivan 
and  his  friends,  and  the  latter  turn  us  —  the  people 
and  "our"  government  —  over  to  their  corporate 
masters.  Nothing  like  that  is  to  be  found  in  Eng- 
land or  on  the  continent.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  induce  the  people  of  those  countries  to  vote  for  their 
Sullivans  ;  they  elect  their  Ryans.  A  prominent  social- 
ist in  the  Berlin  municipal  council  told  me  recently  that 
the  greatest  difficulty  they  meet  with  in  their  efforts  to 
deal  with  the  traction  monopoly  arises  from  the  fact  that 
several  directors  of  the  company  are  on  the  council. 
Nothing,  therefore,  can  be  done  without  the  traction 
monopoly  knowing  instantly  the  facts.  Something  of 
that  sort  exists  nearly  everywhere  in  Europe ;  the  vested 
interests  represent  themselves. 

It  is  corruption,  but  it  is  a  higher  type  of  corruption, 
unaccompanied  by  all  the  inelegant  features  associated 
with  American  politics.  One  must  admit  it  is  also  a 
preferable  form,  as  it  exists  in  the  open.  It  is  not 
always  easy  for  the  public  to  know  that  Sullivan,  Hinky 
Dink,  and  Johnny  Powers,  or  the  thousands  like  them 
without  their  notoriety,  represent  purely  private  inter- 
ests and  not  the  interests  of  their  constituents.  Abroad 
it  becomes  clearer,  day  by  day,  that  the  nominees  of 
the  vested  interests  represent  those  interests. 

As  a  result,  the  workers  in  Europe  are  beginning  to 
send  to  the  municipal  councils  and  to  parliament  their 
own  representatives,  and  we  find  the  conflict  between 
the  workers  and  the  capitalists  sharply  defined.  I  saw 
it  once  strikingly  illustrated  during  a  parliamentary  de- 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  l8l 

bate  upon  a  bill  for  compensating  workmen  injured  in 
the  mining  industry.  A  socialist  miner,  pleading  for 
more  liberal  compensation,  had  delivered  a  terrible 
arraignment  of  the  conduct  of  the  industry.  When  he 
sat  down,  another  member  arose.  He  said  he  was  a  mine- 
owner,  and  would  like  to  give  notice  that  he  would 
answer  "the  honorable  gentleman"  on  the  following 
day.  In  this  instance,  the  miner,  representing  the 
working  people,  and  the  mine-owner,  representing  the 
capital  employed,  stood  face  to  face  before  the  country 
in  a  debate  upon  the  conditions  prevailing  in  that 
industry. 

This  was  a  dramatic  instance  of  what  is  occurring 
throughout  all  Europe,  as  a  result  of  the  participation 
in  politics  of  independent  working  men's  parties.  Class 
government,  which  seemed  at  first  only  strengthened 
by  the  extension  of  the  suffrage,  is  breaking  down. 
The  workers  are  learning  that  it  avails  nothing  to  vote 
the  conservatives  out  and  the  radicals  in,  or  vice  versa. 
In  either  case  the  upper  class  remains  in  complete 
control.  Only  a  few  years  ago  the  situation  in  Europe 
was  almost  as  bad  as  it  is  with  us,  and  we  seem  unable 
to  uproot  our  corruption,  to  prevent  our  insurance 
scandals,  and  to  eliminate  corporation  control  of  our 
political  parties.  In  Europe  exposures  of  a  similar 
character  would  now  destroy  any  political  party  in- 
volved. The  socialists  of  Italy,  for  instance,  did  not 
face  conditions  quite  as  black  as  ours,  and  yet  they  so 
effectually  followed  up  exposures  of  corruption  that 
many  prominent  persons  were  driven  from  public  life. 
The  power  to  accomplish  this  remarkable  work  resides 
in  this  independent  political  movement,  this  party  of  the 
workers  now  forcing  its  way  into  power.     In  the  face 


1 82  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

of  its  criticism  the  old  order  dare  not  press  the  kind  of 
class  legislation  which  was  so  common  a  few  decades 
ago.  It  dreads  the  criticism  of  the  new  party,  which 
appears  as  the  expression  of  the  exploited  and  disinher- 
ited, produced  largely  by  the  iniquitous  legislation  of 
the  past.  It  realizes  that  any  serious  blunders  on  its 
part,  any  corruption,  any  favors  to  private  interests, 
means  the  strengthening  of  this  active  and  subversive 
group  of  socialists. 

The  influence  of  the  socialist  party  is  even  more 
clearly  shown  by  the  manner  in  which  it  obtains  the 
enforcement  of  law.  It  is  an  old  political  game  to  pass 
laws  not  intended  to  be  enforced.  Having  control  of 
the  executive  as  well  as  the  legislative  departments  of 
government,  the  parties  in  power  sometimes  find  this 
the  easiest  way  to  defeat  popular  clamor.  But  even 
this  undignified  course  is  impossible  where  the  sociahst 
party  is  active.  The  socialists  realize  that  if  present 
laws  were  only  enforced,  they  would  considerably  im- 
prove existing  conditions.  In  the  German  municipali- 
ties and  elsewhere  they  taunt  the  parties  in  power  with 
the  squalor,  the  vile  tenements,  the  high  death-rates, 
the  adulterated  food,  and  the  other  evils  resulting  in 
part  from  a  lax  administration.  The  effectiveness  of 
these  stings  cannot  be  overestimated,  and  one  of  the 
most  striking  changes  of  the  last  few  years  is  the  in- 
crease in  efficiency  of  the  municipal  administration  in 
the  continental  cities.  In  three  ways,  therefore,  the 
sociahst  movement  exercises  an  important  influence 
upon  European  political  policy :  first,  upon  legislation 
itself ;  second,  in  making  almost  impossible  the  older 
form  of  political  corruption  residing  in  class  rule ;  and 
third,  in  compelling  the  enforcement  of  existing  laws. 


SOCIALISM   AND    SOCIAL   REFORM  1 83 

Socialism  does  not  set  out  to  occupy  itself  merely 
with  political  reforms.  It  is  based  upon  economic 
principles,  which  emphasize  the  necessity  for  industrial 
reconstruction.  But  one  insurmountable  political  obsta- 
cle stands  in  the  way  of  its  advancement  as  a  party.  In 
many  countries  the  suffrage  is  so  restricted  that  it  gives 
the  propertied  classes  a  position  of  advantage.  A  fun- 
damental political  demand,  therefore,  upon  which  all 
socialists  agree,  is  universal  and  equal  suffrage  without 
distinction  of  sex.  In  Belgium  during  the  last  twenty 
years  enormous  pressure  has  been  exercised  upon  the 
government  to  force  it  to  grant  this  political  right. 
Deprived  of  other  means  of  expressing  their  will,  the 
people  have  had  to  resort  to  general  strikes  and  even 
to  riots.  Several  times  the  electoral  law  has  been 
altered,  but  the  governing  classes  in  Belgium  fear  to 
grant  universal  and  equal  suffrage,  as  the  growing  popu- 
larity of  the  socialists  would  then  make  probable  their 
early  advent  to  power.  Other  European  governments 
face  a  similar  situation,  and  it  becomes  increasingly 
difficult  to  obtain  universal  suffrage.  The  danger  to 
the  present  order  is  illustrated  by  two  recent  events. 
In  Austria,  after  a  series  of  general  strikes,  and  a  period 
of  threatening  agitation,  universal  manhood  suffrage 
was  granted,  and  the  socialists  instantly  increased  their 
parliamentary  representation  from  11  to  87  members. 
In  Finland  the  social  democratic  agitation  was  even 
more  successful,  and  women  were  admitted  along  with 
men  to  the  right  of  suffrage.  At  the  first  election 
under  the  new  law  80  socialists  were  sent  to  parliament, 
of  whom  nine  were  women.  Coincident  with  this  desper- 
ate struggle  to  win  universal  suffrage  an  effort  is  being 
made  to  obtain  the  referendum  and  initiative,  and  in 


1 84  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

many  countries  the  old  parties  have  been  forced  in  self- 
protection  to  establish  proportional  representation.  That 
it  should  be  left  to  the  socialists  alone  to  fight  these 
battles  of  political  democracy  shows  to  what  extent  the 
old  liberal  parties,  whose  glory  it  once  was  to  widen  the 
suffrage,  have  degenerated  since  they  came  into  power. 
In  the  field  of  public  finance  a  graduated  income  tax, 
and  the  abolition  of  all  indirect  taxes,  customs,  and 
other  politico-economic  measures,  which  sacrifice  the 
interests  of  the  whole  community  to  the  interests  of  a 
favored  minority,  are  demanded  in  all  socialist  pro- 
grams. The  Germans  ask  for  an  obligatory  graduated 
tax  upon  inheritance,  and  the  Belgian  party  seeks  the 
suppression  of  intestate  succession  except  in  the  direct 
line.  The  English  Independent  Labor  Party  stands  for 
the  gradual  transference  of  all  poHtical  burdens  to  un- 
earned incomes,  and  the  Italian  party  advocates  the 
taxation  of  unearned  increment  from  land.  England 
and  Germany  already  have  an  income-tax,  and  France 
is  at  present  in  the  midst  of  drafting  important  legis- 
lation in  the  same  field.  The  present  legislation,  how- 
ever, does  not  satisfy  the  socialists,  as  it  is  their  avowed 
purpose  to  shift  the  entire  burden  of  taxation  on  to 
unearned  incomes.  The  enormous  budgets  of  the 
European  countries,  made  necessary  in  part  by  stu- 
pendous annual  expenditures  for  naval  and  military 
purposes,  have  forced  the  governments  to  place  a  part 
of  this  heavy  burden  upon  the  wealthier  classes ;  but 
the  burden  upon  the  workers  is  nevertheless  crushing. 
Consequently  the  socialists  are  exercising  their  utmost 
power  in  every  country  to  relieve  the  workers  by  shift- 
ing these  taxes  upon  those  classes  for  whose  benefit 
naval  and  military  expenses  are  incurred. 


SOCIALISM  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM  1 85 

The  German  cities  have  taken  an  important  advance 
step  in  the  taxation  of  unearned  increment  arising  from 
the  sale  and  transfer  of  land.  The  object  is  to  absorb 
the  profits  of  the  speculator.  On  every  change  in 
ownership  an  increasing  tax  is  placed  in  a  shifting 
scale  in  relation  to  the  selling  price.  The  introduction 
of  the  new  rating  forced  the  Breslau  speculators  in 
land  to  pay  in  1900  an  increased  taxation  of  ^76,250. 
Frankfurt  was  the  first  town  to  undertake  legislation 
in  this  direction,  and  the  socialists  in  all  parts  of 
Germany  are  pressing  measures  of  a  similar  character. 
In  Berlin  they  recently  introduced  an  extreme  measure, 
and  while  it  met  with  defeat,  it  will  doubtless  in  a  year 
or  so  be  presented  in  modified  form  and  passed  by 
one  of  the  conservative  parties.  Many  of  the  German 
Town  Councils  also  rate  unimproved  land  on  the 
amount  for  which  it  could  be  sold.  Crefeld,  Breslau, 
Aachen,  Diisseldorf,  Elberfeld,  Charlottenberg,  Kiel, 
Wiesbaden,  and  other  towns  have  already  adopted  the 
new  method  and  all  German  towns  are  urged  by  the 
Prime  Minister  to  follow  their  example.  These  new 
forms  of  land  taxation  have  not  yet  been  sufficiently 
developed  in  Germany  to  show  very  important  results ; 
but  under  socialist  pressure  they  are  certain  to  be 
gradually  extended  until  the  cities  will  absorb  the 
entire  unearned  increment  arising  from  land.  So 
much  for  the  attitude  of  the  socialists  in  the  field  of 
public  finance. 

A  most  important  change  has  taken  place  of  recent 
years  in  European  political  thought  concerning  factory 
legislation.  The  old  ideas  of  laissc:;  faire,  ^hxch.  are 
still  potent  in  America,  are  rapidly  being  abandoned 
on  the  other  side  of   the  Atlantic.      During   the    last 


1 86  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

twenty  years  there  has  been  a  steady  growth  of  state 
intervention,  until  now  there  are  laws  regulating  almost 
every  phase  of  the  competitive  system.  The  relation 
between  labor  and  capital,  the  conduct  of  factories, 
mines,  and  other  industrial  enterprises,  and  the  sanitary 
condition  of  tenements  and  workshops  are  more  and 
more  regulated  by  law.  The  old  political  principles 
allowed  complete  freedom  of  contract,  neglecting  to 
make  any  provision  for  the  necessary  basis  of  equality 
in  condition.  State  intervention  is  a  tardy  and  indeed 
vain  effort  to  equalize  conditions  and  to  put  labor 
upon  an  equal  footing  with  capital. 

The  socialists  in  forcing  labor  legislation  work  as  the 
direct  representatives  in  parliament  of  the  trade-union 
movement.  They  are  constantly  agitating  for  laws 
giving  greater  freedom  of  action  to  the  unions.  Even 
before  the  organization  of  their  political  parties,  the 
working-class  had  gained  in  most  countries  the  right 
to  unite  and  the  right  to  strike.  In  some  countries  the 
right  of  peaceful  picketing  is  now  guaranteed  to  the 
workers.  Usually  this  is  a  result  of  an  administrative 
measure,  but  the  English  parliament,  during  its  last 
session,  specifically  granted  the  right  in  the  Trades 
Disputes  Bill.  Injunctions  are  rarely  used  in  Europe 
against  labor  organizations ;  but  in  case  any  court 
should  be  unwise  enough  to  grant  one,  it  would  seldom 
be  sustained.  In  some  countries  the  use  of  the  army 
and  police  against  strikers  is  still  common,  and  of  course 
in  all  demonstrable  instances  of  violence  the  interven- 
tion of  the  authorities  is  certain.  Nothing,  however,  in 
Europe  compares  with  the  use  commonly  made  of  the 
army  in  America,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  anywhere  else 
employers    would  be   permitted  to  hire   "  Pinkertons " 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  1 8/ 

to  shoot  down  or  to  intimidate  starving  workmen.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  things  have  changed  greatly  in  most 
European  countries  during  recent  years.  The  socialist 
municipalities  of  Italy  and  France  sometimes  supply 
strikers  with  food  and  shelter,  and  in  all  cases  they 
see  that  the  children  are  cared  for.  In  these  instances 
the  old  order  is  completely  reversed,  and  instead  of 
the  employer  being  given  governmental  aid  to  break 
strikes  and  to  crush  the  workmen,  the  men  are  rendered 
assistance  to  the  extent  sometimes  of  direct  contribu- 
tions to  their  funds.  The  French  chamber  itself  has 
many  times,  after  the  conclusion  of  a  strike,  voted 
financial  aid  to  the  families  of  the  working  men. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  an  adequate  review  of  the 
progress  of  factory  legislation.  As  I  have  said  be- 
fore, there  was  practically  no  such  legislation  in  Bel- 
gium previous  to  the  formation  of  the  Labor  Party. 
The  reader  will  have  observed  in  its  program,  that 
among  other  things  it  demands  the  prohibition  of  the 
employment  of  children  under  14;  a  half-time  system, 
that  is  to  say,  half  a  day  at  work  and  half  in  school, 
for  workers  between  the  ages  of  14  and  18  ;  the  pro- 
hibition of  the  employment  of  women  in  all  industries 
where  it  is  incompatible  with  morals  or  health ;  the 
reduction  of  the  working  day  to  a  maximum  of  eight 
hours  for  adults  of  both  sexes ;  a  minimum  wage ;  the 
prohibition  of  night-work  for  all  categories  of  workers 
in  all  industries  where  this  mode  of  working  is  not 
absolutely  necessary ;  one  day's  rest  per  week,  so  far 
as  possible  on  Sunday ;  responsibility  of  employers  in 
case  of  accidents ;  and  the  appointment  of  doctors  to 
attend  persons  injured ;  the  employment  of  medical 
authorities  to  work  in  the  interests  of  factory  hygiene, 


1 88  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

and  the  appointment  of  all  inspectors  by  joint  com- 
mittees of  employers  and  employed.  Some  of  the 
other  national  programs  advocate  more  stringent  meas- 
ures, and  the  Fabians  demand  for  women  workers 
that  for  equal  work  they  should  receive  equal  pay 
with  men.  Nearly  all  the  programs  demand  a  gen- 
eral compulsory  insurance  of  citizens  against  unemploy- 
ment, disablement,  and  death.  The  Fabian  program 
also  advocates  the  eight-hour  day,  the  prohibition  of 
the  employment  of  children  under  i6,  the  undertaking 
of  useful  public  works  in  special  cases,  and  a  general 
extension  of  governmental  ownership  of  industrial 
operations :  all  for  the  purpose  of  doing  away  with 
unemployment.  As  a  result  of  constant  pressure  exer- 
cised by  the  socialists  every  country  in  Europe  has 
sensibly  increased,  and  in  some  cases  initiated,  legis- 
lation protecting  workmen  against  insanitary  condi- 
tions, dangerous  trades,  and  other  evils  incident  to 
industry  which  undermine  the  health  and  vitality  of 
the  working-class.  France  is  one  of  the  first  countries 
to  establish  le  repos  Jiebdomadaire  —  one  day's  rest  in 
seven. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  legislation  that  has  been 
passed  in  the  interest  of  labor  is  the  compulsory  insur- 
ance of  working  men,  now  spreading  all  over  Europe. 
It  is  mainly  an  effort  to  render  tolerable  the  present 
economic  system,  and  to  give  to  the  working-class 
some  security  in  life.  The  German  empire  was  the 
first  country  to  realize  the  widespread  discontent  of 
the  workers  which  resulted  from  their  uncertainty  of 
livelihood.  England  and  America  still  persist  in 
throwing  upon  the  poor  law,  and  degrading  to  the 
position  of  paupers,  the  aged,  the  sick,  and  the  unem- 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  1 85 

ployed,  as  well  as  the  families  of  those  who  have  sac- 
rificed their  lives  to  industry.  In  Germany,  where  the 
insurance  system  is  best  developed,  every  employee 
receiving  less  than  ;^500  a  year  in  wages  must  be  in- 
sured against  accident,  sickness,  invalidism,  and  old  age. 
Practically  every  workman  in  the  German  empire  is, 
therefore,  assured  of  an  economic  existence,  when  he 
is  unable  to  continue  at  work.  One  no  longer  finds 
broken-down  workmen,  suffering  from  tuberculosis, 
chronic  rheumatism,  or  other  forms  of  invalidism,  or 
maimed  and  injured  so  as  to  be  incapable  of  further 
labor,  or  weary  and  exhausted  veterans,  still  forced  to 
maintain  a  tragic  and  futile  struggle  to  earn  the  nec- 
essaries of  life.  To  all  these  unfortunates,  pensions 
are  granted  at  a  cost  of  over  ^100,000,000  a  year.  In 
Austria,  insurance  against  accidents,  sickness,  and  old 
age  is  obligatory  for  practically  the  entire  laboring 
population.  Compulsory  insurance  has  also  gained  a 
foothold  in  France  and  Roumania,  while  for  fifty  years 
there  has  been  a  system  in  Belgium  of  miners'  insur- 
ance which  is  practically  compulsory  upon  mine-own- 
ers. The  best  examples  of  state  voluntary  insurance 
are  found  in  France,  Belgium,  and  Italy.  The  first 
country  has  had  in  existence  for  many  years  three  in- 
dependent departments  for  accidents,  old  age  and 
invalidism,  and  death.  Belgium  has  a  similar  institu- 
tion for  old-age  insurance,  while  Italy  has  established 
a  national  bank  for  insurance  against  accidents.  The 
'  English  employer  is  now  forced  by  the  Workmen's 
Compensation  Act  to  indemnify  injured  workmen,  a 
more  complete  form  of  the  law  having  been  recently 
passed  under  pressure  from  the  Labor  Party. 

The    system    of    governmental    insurance,    however, 


1 90  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

does  not  include  insurance  against  unemployment. 
There  is  a  scheme  for  pensioning  the  unemployed, 
which  was  started  a  few  years  ago  in  Ghent,  and  is 
gradually  being  adopted  by  other  cities  throughout 
Europe.  The  working  method  is  for  the  unions  to 
establish  an  insurance  fund  against  unemployment,  to 
which  every  member  subscribes  a  certain  sum  weekly 
or  monthly  ;  and  for  every  dollar  contributed  by  the 
workmen  an  equal  sum  is  usually  contributed  by  the 
municipality.  The  unions,  being  financially  responsible 
to  the  same  extent  as  the  municipalities,  undertake  to 
see  that  no  idlers  shall  be  supported  from  the  funds. 
In  this  way  society  is  beginning  to  assume  a  part  of 
its  responsibiUty  for  unemployment,  instead  of  throw- 
ing the  burden  entirely  upon  the  workmen.  In  nearly 
all  the  sociahst  municipalities  of  France  a  similar 
system  has  been  developed,  and  the  French  chamber 
recently  acknowledged  the  principle  of  society's  re- 
sponsibility for  unemployment,  by  making  a  subvention 
to  these  funds. 

A  step  in  advance  of  governmental  regulation  and 
even  of  governmental  insurance  is  national  and  mu- 
nicipal ownership.  It  is  unfortunate  that  no  general 
figures  exist  giving  the  extent  of  public  property,  but 
in  every  country  in  Europe  during  the  last  twenty 
years  there  has  been  an  astonishing  growth  of  state 
socialism.  Many  countries  have  nationalized  the  rail- 
ways, and  there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  own  na- 
tionally all  the  great  natural  resources,  such  as  coal 
and  iron  mines,  etc.  Switzerland  is  considering  a 
proposition  to  keep  under  national  control  the  im- 
mense power  which  lies  in  her  mountain  streams. 
There  is  a  possibility  that  Great  Britain  will  national- 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  191 

ize  the  railroads  in  Ireland,  and  there  is  considerable 
agitation  for  the  nationalization  of  all  British  rail- 
ways. Public  enterprise  is,  of  course,  most  extensive  in 
the  cities.  Hardly  a  franchise  expires  in  any  Euro- 
pean city  that  is  not  immediately  taken  up  by^  the 
municipality.  In  many  places  no  new  franchises  are 
granted  to  private  companies,  and  little  by  little  all 
public  services  are  coming  into  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

In  Great  Britain  this  movement  has  taken  on  an 
enormous  development,  so  that  now  most  of  the  munici- 
pahties  own  the  water,  gas,  and  electrical  supplies, 
trams,  baths,  wash-houses,  libraries,  and  of  course  the 
pubUc  schools,  parks,  playgrounds,  etc.  Many  of  the 
cities  have  entered  the  field  of  municipal  housing,  and 
some  have  undertaken  to  demolish  large  areas  of  slums, 
replacing  them  by  municipally  owned  tenements.  For 
many  years  past  a  number  of  cities  have  had  a  municipal 
telephone  service,  and  the  national  post-office  has  re- 
cently made  arrangements  looking  to  tlie  nationalization 
of  all  telephones  as  soon  as  the  existing  licenses  expire, 
expecting  a  complete  national  ownership  by  191 1.  Some 
of  the  cities  have  also  instituted  municipal  slaughter- 
houses and  sterilized  milk-supplies.  Nearly  everywhere 
there  has  also  been  a  great  extension  of  municipal 
institutions  for  the  intellectual  development  of  the  com- 
munity, such  as  museums,  art  galleries,  and  libraries; 
and  for  the  physical  development,  such  as  parks,  play- 
grounds, and  recreation  fields. 

One  of  the  strongest  influences  in  the  recent  growth 
of  this  enlightened  public  policy  throughout  England 
is  the  work  of  the  Fabian  Society  and  similar  bodies, 
whose    members    have     carried    on    an    extraordinary 


192  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

propaganda  and  have  constantly  urged  their  practical 
municipal  program.  The  Independent  Labor  Party 
in  the  provinces  has  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in 
the  same  direction,  and  upon  nearly  all  the  councils  in 
the  industrial  districts  the  fighting  has  been  led  by  its 
representatives.  It  cannot,  however,  be  said  that 
British  municipal  socialism  is  the  result  of  an  organized 
and  threatening  movement  of  the  workers.  For  this 
reason  many  of  the  reforms  have  been  more  for  the 
benefit  of  the  entire  community  than  for  the  working- 
class  in  particular.  Certain  collectivist  ideas  appeal 
to  all,  as  for  instance  the  municipalization  of  such 
public  services  as  are  essential  to  the  comfort  of  all. 
It  is  possible  for  a  city  to  own  practically  all  of  these 
public  services  without  greatly  improving  the  life  of 
the  masses.  The  pressure  for  reform  has  come 
mainly  from  the  middle  class  instead  of  from  a  politi- 
cally organized  working-class,  and  the  difference  be- 
tween the  results  obtained  in  England  and  those 
obtained  on  the  continent  by  the  socialist  parties  is 
the  English  slums,  the  most  abominable  of  Europe. 

In  the  continental  countries  the  trend  toward  munici- 
pal socialism  is,  on  the  other  hand,  mainly  the  result  of 
an  organized  working-class  movement.  Certainly  the 
infiltration  of  socialist  ideas  throughout  all  classes  of  the 
community,  and  the  labors  of  that  considerable  class  who 
now  call  themselves  state  socialists,  have  not  been  with- 
out effect;  but  the  influence  of  the  latter  is  often  Hmited 
to  forms  of  collectivism  which  do  not  always  directly 
benefit  the  poor,  while  the  socialist  party  itself  has 
forced  a  whole  series  of  measures  materially  ameHorat- 
ing  the  condition  of  the  workers.  It  is  actually  in  con- 
trol of  a  large  number  of  cities,  and  there  is  hardly  a 


SOCIALISM   AND    SOCIAL   REFORM  193 

municipal  council  without  its  representatives.  In  France 
the  party  elects  the  mayors  of  over  a  hundred  cities,  and 
in  Belgium  and  Italy  it  controls  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  secondary  municipalities.  But  unfortunately 
in  these  countries  there  is  a  highly  centralized  govern- 
ment which  prevents  the  socialists  from  carrying  out 
their  ideas,  and  often  forces  them  to  grant  to  private 
interests  the  conduct  of  public  utilities.  Although  they 
have  fought  valiantly  for  increased  power,  it  has  thus  far 
availed  little.  Here  and  there  they  have  established 
municipal  pharmacies,  new  and  improved  hospitals,  and 
nearly  everywhere  they  have  a  sufificiently  free  hand 
to  establish  school  restaurants  for  the  feeding  of  the 
children. 

Curiously  enough,  the  most  important  results  of  the 
socialist  movement  are  to  be  found  in  Germany.  In 
France,  Belgium,  and  Italy  their  electoral  strength  places 
them  in  possession  of  the  municipal  government,  but  the 
centralized  powers  prevent  them  from  carrying  out  their 
policies.  In  Prussia  the  law  does  not  permit  them  to 
control  a  municipality,  but  they  can  and  do  direct  its 
policies.  The  electoral  law  provides  that  the  non-prop- 
ertied classes  shall  only  elect  one-third  of  the  munici- 
pal council.  In  nearly  every  city  the  socialists  elect 
the  full  third,  and  in  many  industrial  cities  their  vote  is 
larger  than  that  of  all  other  parties.  The  moral  power 
which  this  electoral  strength  gives  to  the  socialist  minor- 
ity enables  it  to  exercise  enormous  pressure  upon  Ger- 
man municipal  policy.  The  position  of  the  socialists 
may  be  merely  that  of  critics,  but  their  activity  in  plac- 
ing before  the  councils  measures  for  the  improvement 
of  the  conditions  of  the  workers,  the  sanitary  renovation 
of  the  poorer  quarters,  the  building  of  model  tenements, 


194  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

the  municipalizing  of  public  utilities,  and  countless  other 
measures  for  municipal  improvement,  make  them  a 
source  of  perpetual  irritation  to  the  old  parties.  They 
drive  the  conservative  majorities  to  more  and  more  ex- 
treme measures,  until  Germany  has  now  the  most  enlight- 
ened municipal  policy  in  Europe.  Twenty  years  ago 
her  slums  were  notorious.  There  was  hardly  a  great 
city  which  did  not  have  conditions  rivalling  those  still 
prevalent  throughout  Great  Britain.  To-day  there  is 
hardly  a  poor  district  in  Germany  that  can  justly  be 
called  a  slum. 

The  German  cities  have  developed  municipal  owner- 
ship to  a  greater  extent  than  perhaps  any  other  cities 
of  Europe,  and  in  addition  they  have  for  years  pursued 
a  policy  of  extensive  land  ownership.  Since  1890 
Cologne  has  increased  its  public  land  by  over  1000  per 
cent,  Chemnitz  by  over  600  per  cent,  Munich  by  over 
300  per  cent,  and  so  forth.  Strasbourg  has  over  350 
square  yards  of  land  for  each  inhabitant.  The  town 
of  Ulm  owns  over  80  per  cent  of  the  land  within  its 
boundaries.  It  buys  and  leases  land  daily,  and  by  its 
power  as  landowner  it  prevents  all  land  speculation. 
It  is  now  the  general  policy  of  all  German  towns  not  to 
sell  any  land. 

To  review  the  extent  of  municipal  enterprise  at  pres- 
ent would  exhaust  the  pages  of  a  very  large  book,  and 
it  is  only  possible  to  mention  its  increasing  development 
in  the  above  general  way.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say 
that  national  and  municipal  ownership  is  advocated  in 
nearly  all  socialist  programs,  but  even  where  it  is  not  a 
formulated  demand,  the  sociaHst  parties  have  usually  sup- 
ported any  effort  in  this  direction.  They,  however, 
place  greater  emphasis  upon  those  forms  of  municipal 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  1 95 

or  national  ownership  which  tend  definitely  to  relieve  or 
abolish  the  exploitation  of  the  workers.  Among  the 
first  measures  they  press  are  those  for  municipal  hous- 
ing, and  the  control  of  the  food,  clothing,  and  fuel  sup- 
plies. It  is  their  primary  effort  to  take  the  necessaries 
of  life  out  of  the  field  of  capitalist  exploitation.  But 
even  where  municipal  or  national  ownership  is  gained, 
they  do  not  consider  their  end  attained.  Nearly  all 
socialists  would  agree  with  Wilhelm  Liebknecht,  who 
said,  "  The  state  when  it  assumes  control  in  place  of  the 
private  entrepreneur  carries  on  the  capitalist  exploitation 
exactly  as  the  private  entrepreneur.  It  can  in  fact  ex- 
ercise yet  greater  oppression."  This  leads  the  socialists 
to  make  strenuous  efforts  to  obtain  better  hours,  wages, 
and  conditions  for  government  employees.  The  London 
County  Council  have  endeavored  to  follow  out  this  social- 
ist policy,  and  in  all  public  work  they  have  established 
among  other  things  the  eight-hour  day,  trade  union  wages, 
one  day's  rest  in  seven^  and  the  employment  by  the 
municipality  direct  of  all  classes  of  workmen  engaged 
upon  public  works.  In  many  German  cities  like  condi- 
tions have  been  established,  and  wherever  the  socialists 
have  been  in  control,  in  France,  Italy,  or  Belgium,  a 
similar  program  has  been  put  into  operation. 

It  was  pointed  out  a  moment  ago  that  the  centralized 
government  of  France  prevents  the  socialists  from  car- 
rying out  a  general  policy  of  municipalization.  It  may 
be  interesting,  therefore,  to  mention  some  of  the  work 
they  have  been  able  to  accomplish.  It  is  sometimes 
said  that  socialism  will  destroy  the  home,  and  some  of 
its  opponents  have  been  unscrupulous  enough  to  attack 
socialists  as  advocates  of  free  love.  In  answer  to  such 
accusations  perhaps  nothing  could  be  more  conclusive 


196  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

than  what  the  socialists  actually  do  when  they  come 
into  power.  It  is  known  that  illegitimacy  is  common  in 
France,  especially  among  the  poorest  people.  To  what 
extent  it  is  due  to  poverty,  and  the  inability  of  the 
poorest  workmen  to  pay  fees  for  the  marriage  service, 
is  not  known ;  but  when  the  socialists  came  into  control 
of  the  city  of  Lille,  they  established  a  free  marriage 
service,  the  fees  to  the  pastor  being  paid  directly  by 
the  municipality.  Thousands  of  marriages  have  been 
sanctioned  under  this  new  act,  and  a  great  number  of 
children  who  would  otherwise  have  been  classed  as  ille- 
gitimate are  now  legalized.  The  work  of  the  socialists  in 
the  same  city  is  sufficient  to  answer  the  other  accusation. 
It  is  a  theory  that  socialism  will  destroy  the  home ; 
it  is  a  fact  that  for  millions  of  the  poor  capitalism  Jias 
destroyed  the  home.  Go  through  any  great  centre  of 
industry,  and  see  the  mothers  who  are  forced  to  give 
their  children  to  the  street  and  themselves  to  the  fac- 
tory. Literally  speaking,  millions  of  women,  how  many 
with  children  one  cannot  say,  leave  their  homes  at  dawn, 
and  return  to  them  only  at  nightfall.  Some  of  them 
hardly  have  time  to  give  birth  to  their  babies  before 
thdy  are  called  back  to  the  mills.  These  facts  make 
little  impression  upon  those  who  are  not  working  peo- 
ple ;  but  can  any  one  really  think  for  a  moment  that  the 
poor  suffer  without  complaint  this  destruction  of  home 
life .''  Can  any  one  believe  that  when  the  mothers  and 
fathers  rise  in  the  morning  before  dawn,  and  leave  their 
children  to  the  care  of  an  older  child  or  upon  the  streets, 
and  go  themselves  to  toil  for  ten,  twelve,  or  fourteen 
hours  in  the  factory,  they  are  without  feehng  in  the 
matter .''  If  that  is  the  impression,  the  pathetic  efforts 
of   these    French  working  men  when  they  come   into 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  1 97 

power  are  a  sufficient  answer.  Amidst  the  greatest 
imaginable  difficulties  they  strive  to  retrieve  something 
of  the  social  advantages  lost  to  them  through  the  indus- 
trial revolution.  They  establish  public  kitchens  so  that 
soups,  meats,  and  vegetables  can  be  obtained  warm  when 
the  people  return  from  their  work.  They  establish 
creches  for  the  babies  of  working  mothers.  The  cantine 
scolaire,  or  school  restaurant,  is  but  another  effort  to 
reestablish  in  some  manner  the  social  institutions  lost 
by  the  destruction  of  the  home.  So  long  as  the  present 
system  lasts,  or  at  least  so  long  as  sociaHsts  remain  in  a 
minority,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  free  from  toil  the 
mothers  of  their  children.  But  they  can  save  the  babies 
from  neglect,  the  children  from  the  streets,  and  all  from 
actual  hunger.  There  are  few  workmen  who  would  not, 
if  they  could,  destroy  all  the  creches  and  ca7itines  scolaij-es 
and  ecolcs  maternclles,  if  at  the  same  time  they  could 
reestablish  the  home  and  give  back  to  the  babies  their 
mothers.  This,  however,  being  impossible,  it  will  be  a 
curious  and  perhaps  interesting  fact  to  the  prosperous 
classes  that,  among  the  first  things  to  which  the  social- 
ists turn  their  attention  when  they  become  charged  with 
the  responsibility  of  municipal  government  are  these 
very  problems  of  the  family  and  the  home. 

This  is  typical  of  the  activity  of  the  socialists  in  France, 
Italy,  Germany,  and  Belgium,  whenever  they  obtain  con- 
trol of  a  municipality.  The  feeding  of  the  children  in 
school  restaurants  is  rapidly  spreading  throughout  all 
Europe.  Where  the  Itahans  have  gained  control,  they 
have  immediately  established  the  system  and  in  some 
cases  in  order  that  there  shall  be  no  distinction  between 
poor  and  well-to-do  children,  attendance  at  school  meals 
is  made  compulsory  for  all  children.     In  Norway  the 


198  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

municipalities  provide  a  nutritious  midday  meal  regard- 
less of  whether  the  children  can  pay  or  not,  and  this  is 
also  true  of  a  number  of  Belgian  cities.  In  France  the 
children  usually  pay  where  possible,  but  no  one  knows 
which  of  the  children  pay  and  which  do  not. 

Probably  the    most   interesting  development   in    the 
care   of  the  children  is  that  of  the  forest  school  near 
Berlin.     The  German  cities,  having  generally  provided 
school  physicians,  found  a  large  percentage  of  the  chil- 
dren of  such  delicate  health  that  there  was  no  likelihood 
of   their  growing  into  strong  men   and   women.     Bad 
food  and  insanitary  homes,  added  to  general  tendencies, 
were  producing  a  class  of  children  who  must  in  time 
become  a  burden  upon  the  community.     Merely  as  an 
experiment    a  forest   school  was  estabhshed,  to  which 
several    hundred    children  were  sent.     They  are    fed ; 
nurses  and  doctors  attend  them  ;  their  lessons  are  given, 
as  far  as  possible,  in  the  open  air ;  and  every  effort  is 
made  to  build   up   a  strong  physical   constitution.     It 
has  proved  an    amazingly   successful   experiment,   and 
after  a  year  or  two  of  attendance   practically  all  of  the 
dehcate  children  return  to  the  ordinary  schools  in  ro- 
bust health.     The  food,  the  doctors,  the  nurses,  and  the 
medicine,  as  well  as  the  teaching,  are  supplied  at  the 
expense  of  the  community.     Other  similar  schools  are 
now  being  estabhshed,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  hope  that 
within  a  few  years  they  will  have  spread  all  over  Ger- 
many, with  the  result  that  there  will  be  few  weak  and 
delicate  children  at  the  end  of  the  school  period.     The 
socialists  of  Lille  have  undertaken  a  somewhat  similar 
experiment,  and  the  municipal  control  of  the  milk-supply, 
which  is  now  becoming  general,  is  having  an  excellent 
effect  upon  the  babies. 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  1 99 

In  line  with  these  efforts  to  solve  some  of  the  prob- 
lems of  morals  and  health  is  the  war  upon  alcoholism. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  important  problems  that  now 
confront  the  socialist  party.  Aside  from  the  purely- 
humanitarian  motives  which  influence  the  socialists  to 
attack  alcoholism,  there  is  also  a  party  motive.  They 
fully  realize  that  one  of  the  greatest  enemies  to  the 
propaganda  of  their  ideas  is  drunkenness.  In  many  of 
the  European  countries  almost  the  only  strength  remain- 
ing to  the  old  political  parties  among  the  working-class 
is  the  support  of  the  shiftless  and  drunken  elements 
in  the  large  towns  and  industrial  centres.  In  Belgium 
the  socialists  own  a  large  number  of  club-houses  or 
Houses  of  the  People,  all  of  which  are  based  upon  ex- 
tensive cafes  patronized  solely  by  the  working-class. 
Regardless  of  the  financial  loss  entailed,  alcoholic  drinks 
are  no  longer  sold  in  many  of  these  cooperatives, 
and  the  Belgian  party  is  gradually  developing  a  definite 
political  policy  against  the  entire  drink  traffic.  One  of 
the  most  significant  things  that  has  recently  happened 
in  Europe  is  the  resolution  against  alcoholism  passed  at 
the  last  German  national  congress.  In  Sweden  and  the 
northern  countries  the  socialists  have  used  their  influ- 
ence to  promote  the  Gothenburg  system  of  controlling 
the  drink  traffic.  A  law  prohibiting  all  traffic  in  drink 
was  recently  passed  in  Finland,  although  there  is  a 
doubt  whether  the  existence  of  certain  international 
fiscal  treaties  will  not  render  it  to  a  great  extent  inopera- 
tive. The  Fabians  in  London  advocate  the  municipali- 
zation of  the  industry  in  order  to  abolish  the  private 
interest  in  the  making  of  drunkards.  In  Switzerland 
the  drink  traffic  has  been  nationalized.  In  Russia  the 
state  monopoly  of  spirit  retailing  was  established  solely 


200  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

for  fiscal  purposes  and  not  to  decrease  drunkenness. 
The  problem  is  a  new  one  for  the  socialist  movement, 
but  nearly  everywhere  in  Europe  it  is  beginning  with 
characteristic  energy  an  active  campaign  against  the 
liquor  traffic,  and  using  its  tremendous  moral  power 
among  the  masses  to  combat  alcoholism. 

I  shall  not  attempt  here  to  give  the  attitude  of  the 
party  upon  militarism,  the  colonial  question,  and  agri- 
culture, —  all  questions  of  fundamental  importance  to  the 
European  movement.  They  are  extremely  complicated, 
and  the  party  has  not  yet  adopted  a  policy  that  maybe 
considered  final.  Not  only  have  the  national  congresses 
given  serious  consideration  to  these  problems,  but  the 
several  international  gatherings  have  passed  resolutions, 
trying  to  define  the  position  of  the  movement.  Thus 
far  there  has  not  been  an  agreement  reached  which 
meets  the  approval  of  all  the  national  parties.  But  in 
passing  over  these  difficult  questions,  there  still  remains 
one  matter  of  too  great  importance  to  go  without  con- 
sideration, and  that  is  the  tactical  attitude  of  the  party 
toward  social  reform.  Socialism  is  a  movement  for 
radical  and  revolutionary  change  in  the  constitution  of 
society,  and  its  policy  in  regard  to  reforms  and  amelio- 
rations in  the  present  order  cannot  be  ignored. 

There  are  two  groups  in  the  socialist  movement  which 
advocate  different  political  tactics  in  regard  to  social 
reform.  A  few  years  ago  there  was  no  end  of  discus- 
sion within  the  organization,  and  the  debates  between 
the  two  groups  became  bitter,  until  finally  the  strife  was 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  outside  world  by  a  pub- 
lic controversy  between  Kautsky,  "  the  Marxist,"  and 
Bernstein,  "the  Revisionist."  The  press  heralded  the 
discussion  with  sinister  delight,  and  Bernstein  became 


SOCIALISM   AND    SOCIAL   REFORM  20I 

for  a  time  an  international  figure.  It  was  thought  at 
first  that  the  difference  between  the  two  tendencies  was 
limited  to  Germany,  but  as  the  discussion  progressed 
it  was  found  that  the  party  was  divided  in  nearly  every 
country  into  two  camps  —  on  the  one  hand,  reformists, 
revisionists,  moderates,  possibilists,  and  ministerialists, 
as  the  opportunists  are  called ;  on  the  other,  impos- 
sibilists,  Marxists,  and  revolutionists.  These  various 
designations  were  often  used  in  contempt,  and  in  all 
the  more  important  countries  of  Europe  the  two  factions 
were  struggling  to  impress  upon  the  party  a  political 
tactic  in  accord  with  their  own  particular  view. 

I  have  already  given  the  unhappy  history  of  the 
schisms  in  the  French  party.  In  the  very  beginning 
there  was  a  division  between  the  possibilists  and  the 
impossibilists,  and  only  a  few  years  ago  there  occurred 
the  critical  and  passionate  struggle  between  Guesde  and 
Jaures.  The  English  movement  is  divided  on  some- 
what the  same  lines,  the  Fabians  going  to  the  most  ex- 
treme limit  of  the  reformist  tactic,  and  the  Social 
Democratic  Federation  going  to  the  other  extreme.  In 
Germany  the  struggle  between  the  two  factions  has  been 
almost  continuous  since  1891.  Vollmar,  the  leader  of 
the  Bavarian  section  of  the  movement,  was  one  of  the 
first  in  the  German  party  to  take  issue  with  the  Marxian 
tactics  of  Bebel,  Liebknecht,  and  the  North  Germans. 
Bernstein  followed  with  his  polemics  upon  the  subject, 
and  at  nearly  every  congress  for  ten  years  the  matter 
was  brought  up  in  some  form.  In  Italy  the  quarrels 
have  been  more  serious  even  than  in  France.  The  re- 
formists definitely  allied  themselves  with  the  two  minis- 
tries of  Zanardelli  and  Giolitti.  Throughout  the  north 
they  have  pursued  everywhere  a  policy  of  compromise. 


202  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Again  and  again  in  the  Italian  congresses  this  question 
threatens  the  very  existence  of  the  movement.  Austria 
has  not  been  without  a  similar  struggle,  and  in  Belgium 
the  reformist  policy  prevails. 

The  reformists  believe  that  the  movement  should  use 
all  its  effort  to  accomplish  certain  definite  reforms,  and 
in  this  manner  gradually  alter  the  whole  constitution  of 
society.  They  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
they  would  go  for  the  sake  of  specific  reforms.  Some 
believe  in  cooperating  with  the  parties  in  power ;  some, 
in  electoral  alliances  with  the  more  advanced  parties ; 
some,  that  the  members  of  the  party  should  accept  posts 
in  the  cabinet;  others  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  "the 
movement  is  everything ;  the  aim  nothing."  They  do 
not,  however,  disagree  with  their  adversaries  as  to  the 
end.  They  are  all  in  a  sense  revolutionists ;  but  they 
are  convinced  that  we  shall  arrive  at  socialism  more 
quickly  by  specific  reform,  and  collaboration  with  other 
political  parties,  than  by  an  attitude  of  uncompromising 
hostility. 

The  Marxists  believe  that  no  fundamental  alteration 
will  be  made  in  society  except  by  working-class  unity 
and  action.  The  education  and  organization  of  the 
workers  is,  therefore,  their  chief  aim.  To  them  parha- 
ment  is  largely  a  place  for  propaganda  and  agitation. 
Reforms  gained  are  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  strength- 
ening the  working-class  revolt.  They  do  not  deny  the 
value  of  reform,  but  they  do  not  want  the  end  and  aim 
of  the  movement  to  be  confused  with  what  they  consider 
as  only  temporary  ameliorations  in  the  capitalist  system. 
Furthermore,  they  claim,  and  this  is  their  chief  argu- 
ment, that  reforms  are  more  easily  gained  by  a  hostile 
group  of  working  men  in  parliament,  jealously  maintain- 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  203 

ing  its  isolation,  than  by  compromise  and  collaboration 
with  the  old  parties.  In  other  words  they  set  out  to  or- 
ganize the  people,  and  to  impress  upon  them  the  princi- 
ples of  socialism,  fearing  to  obscure  their  ideals  by  an 
appeal  based  upon  the  immediate  program  alone. 

The  battle  between  these  two  tendencies  raged  inside 
and  outside  the  party  until  the  Amsterdam  Congress, 
when  the  Marxists  won  a  signal  victory.  The  latter 
proved  that  in  those  countries  where  the  party  had  been 
the  most  uncompromising  the  reforms  gained  are  most 
numerous.  For  instance,  in  Germany  the  movement  as 
a  whole,  despite  Bernstein,  Vollmar,  and  other  reform- 
ists, has  pursued  a  poHcy  of  continuous  and  bitter  hos- 
tility to  all  other  parties.  And  it  is  in  Germany  that 
the  most  important  and  fundamental  reforms  have  been 
obtained.  It  is  not  to  Italy,  France,  or  Belgium,  in 
all  of  which  countries  the  socialists  have  allied  them- 
selves with  the  radical  parties,  that  one  goes  to  find  the 
most  advanced  reform  legislation.  In  all  these  countries, 
the  conditions  among  the  masses  are  abominable.  De- 
spite the  fact  that  the  socialists  have  been  sufficiently 
powerful  in  the  first  two  countries  to  decide  the  fate  of 
nearly  all  the  recent  ministries,  they  have  not  been  able 
to  obtain  freedom  for  socialist  action,  even  in  those  mu- 
nicipalities of  which  they  have  control.  Millerand  was 
certainly  responsible  for  some  important  legislation,  but 
it  is  not  to  be  compared  with  that  of  Germany.  The 
fact  that  the  working-class  of  Europe  altered  the  whole 
political  outlook  as  soon  as  it  became  a  party  working 
in  open  hostility  to  the  other  parties  is  also  proof  of  the 
soundness  of  the  Marxian  tactic. 

The  Fabian  and  reformist  tactics  are  often  thought  to 
be  the  same,  but  there  is,  it  must  be  said,  a  vital  differ- 


204  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ence  between  the  two  policies.  The  Fabians  steadfastly 
decHne  to  adopt  the  party  idea.  For  years  they  have 
pursued  an  adroit  and  effective  policy  in  permeating  the 
liberal  party,  and  especially  the  progressives  of  Lon- 
don, with  collectivist  views.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
overestimate  the  practical  value  of  the  work  of  Sidney 
Webb,  Bernard  Shaw,  and  others,  who  have  for  more 
than  twenty  years  carried  on  a  campaign  for  municipal 
ownership.  The  Fabian  essays  and  tracts  have  unques- 
tionably revolutionized  the  ideas  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion. Sidney  Webb's  "  The  London  Program"  and 
"  London  Education,"  and  Bernard  Shaw's  "The  Com- 
monsense  of  Municipal  Trading,"  are  outlines  of  a  fun- 
damental municipal  policy.  In  London  the  Fabian 
policy  has  been  extremely  successful,  and  as  early  as 
1888  Bernard  Shaw  says:  "We  counted  the  solid  ad- 
vantage of  a  progressive  majority  full  of  ideas  that 
would  never  have  come  into  their  heads  had  not  the 
Fabians  put  them  there.  The  generalship  of  this 
movement  was  undertaken  chiefly  by  Sidney  Webb, 
who  played  such  bewildering  conjuring  tricks  with  the 
Liberal  thimbles  and  the  Fabian  peas,  that  to  this  day 
both  the  Liberals  and  the  sectarian  socialists  stand 
aghast  at  him."  Wholly  without  an  organized  move- 
ment the  Fabians  have  almost  from  the  beginning  been 
the  brains,  conscience,  and  will  of  the  progressive 
majority  in  the  London  County  Council,  and  the  results 
they  have  attained  are  not  to  be  despised.  But  to  say 
this  is  not  to  ignore  the  dangers  of  their  policy.  The 
progressives  at  the  last  election  were  defeated,  and  the 
socialists  of  London  are  left  in  an  almost  helpless  posi- 
tion, entirely  without  a  political  organization.  As  a 
contrast,  we  find  that  in   Berlin,    Paris,    Brussels,  and 


SOCIALISM   AND   SOCIAL   REFORM  205 

Vienna  the  socialists  have  their  strongest  organizations. 
In  Berlin,  the  party  polls  a  large  majority  of  all  votes 
cast.  It  would  be  impossible  for  it  to  be  disorganized 
and  rendered  helpless  by  a  single  defeat.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion, therefore,  whether  the  Fabian  policy  has  really  been 
successful  from  the  larger  point  of  view.  To  have  a  his- 
tory of  agitation  in  London  extending  over  twenty-seven 
years,  and  to  show  at  the  end  of  that  period  no  definite 
political  organization  of  the  working-class,  is  perhaps 
the  most  damaging  evidence  against  the  Fabian  policy. 
The  Fabians  can,  of  course,  answer  that  they  never  in- 
tended to  form  a  political  party,  which  is  perfectly  true ; 
and  in  that  lies  the  difference  between  Fabianism  and 
reformism. 

The  reformists  on  the  continent  have  invariably  worked 
inside  the  party,  and  they  have  often  been  most  effec- 
tive in  building  up  the  political  organization,  while  the 
Fabian  policy  takes  us  back  to  the  tactics  of  the  French 
socialists  before  1848,  who  had  no  thought  of  organizing 
politically  the  working-class.  They  were  endeavoring  to 
convert  the  middle  class,  and  without  organization  to 
capture  the  government.  It  was  the  opinion  of  nearly 
all  socialists  of  that  period  that  social  reorganization 
must  come  from  above,  and  there  were  those  who  be- 
lieved that  the  advantages  of  socialism  could  be  made  so 
clear  to  every  rational  mind  that  it  only  needed  an  in- 
telligent statement  to  convince  mankind.  That  was  the 
view  of  St.  Simon,  Fourier,  and  Robert  Owen  ;  and  Louis 
Blanc,  Vidal,  and  Pecqueur  endeavored  to  persuade  the 
governing  classes  to  abolish  themselves.  To  Blanc  and 
his  friends  socialism  was  governmental  ownership,  or  if 
you  please,  the  ownership  by  the  people  of  certain  or  all 
forms    of    industry.     They    portrayed  the  evils  of  our 


206  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

present  system  ;  they  sought  to  aboHsh  competition  and 
capitalist  institutions.  They  were  all  brilliant  men,  to 
whom  modern  socialists  owe  an  infinite  debt  of  gratitude  ; 
but  Marx  called  them  Utopians  because  they  failed  to 
realize  that  the  sole  means  of  obtaining  their  end  was 
the  organization  of  the  working-class.  The  present-day 
socialists  who  hold  to  this  Utopian  view  often  leave  the 
party  because  they  feel  they  can  do  more  effective  work 
for  socialism  through  liberal  or  radical  organizations. 
This  seems  to  be  the  view  of  Burns,  Millerand,  Viviani, 
and  Briand.  It  is  absurd  to  question  their  sincerity 
without  more  direct  and  damaging  evidence  than  is  now 
possessed  by  socialists  who  attack  them,  but  if  they  re- 
tain their  socialist  views,  they  should  certainly  be  classed 
among  the  Utopians. 

We  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter  how  Marx  condemned 
and  finally  destroyed  the  earlier  Fabianism,  and  no  finer 
tribute  has  ever  been  paid  him  than  that  of  Jaures,  who 
was  for  a  time  the  foremost  reformist  on  the  continent, 
and  often  an  unsparing  critic  of  the  Marxists.  "  To 
Marx  belongs  the  merit,  perhaps  the  only  one  of  all 
attributed  to  him  that  has  fully  withstood  the  trying 
tests  of  criticism  and  of  time,  of  having  drawn  together 
and  unified  the  labor  movement  and  the  socialist  idea. 
In  the  first  third  of  the  nineteenth  century  labor 
struggled  and  fought  against  the  crushing  power  of  capi- 
tal, but  it  was  not  conscious  itself  toward  what  end  it 
was  straining ;  it  did  not  know  that  the  true  objective 
of  its  efforts  was  the  common  ownership  of  property. 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  socialism  did  not  know  that 
the  labor  movement  was  the  living  form  in  which  its 
spirit  was  embodied,  the  concrete  practical  force  of  which 
it  stood  in  need.     Marx  was  the  most  clearly  convinced 


SOCIALISM    AND    SOCIAL   REFORM  207 

and  the  most  powerful  among  those  who  put  an  end  to 
the  empiricism  of  the  labor  movement  and  the  Utopian- 
ism  of  the  socialist  thought,  and  this  should  always  be 
remembered  to  his  credit.  By  a  crowning  application 
of  the  Hegehan  method,  he  united  the  Idea  and  the 
Fact,  thought  and  history.  He  enriched  the  practical 
movement  by  the  idea,  and  to  the  theory  he  added  prac- 
tice ;  he  brought  the  socialist  thought  into  proletarian 
life,  and  proletarian  life  into  socialist  thought.  From 
that  time  on,  socialism  and  the  proletariat  became  in- 
separable. Socialism  can  only  realize  its  ideal  through 
the  victory  of  the  proletariat,  and  the  proletariat  can 
only  complete  its  being  through  the  victory  of  socialism. 
To  the  ever  more  pressing  question,  '  How  shall  social- 
ism be  reahzed .'' '  we  must  then  give  the  preliminary 
answer,  '  By  the  growth  of  the  proletariat  to  which  it  is 
inseparably  joined.'  This  is  the  first  and  essential 
answer ;  and  whoever  refuses  to  accept  it  wholly  and 
in  its  true  sense,  necessarily  places  himself  outside  of 
socialist  life  and  thought."  It  would  be  impossible  to 
state  more  clearly  the  distinction  between  reformism 
and  Fabianism.* 

That  socialism  cannot  be  realized  so  long  as  labor 
remains  disorganized  and  unconscious  of  its  power  both 
the  Marxists  and  the  reformists  are  agreed,  and  it  is  this 
consideration  that  led  three  of  the  ablest  politicians  in  the 
socialist  movement  to  place  higher  even  than  doctrine  the 
unified  organization  of  the  workers.  Liebknecht,  de 
Paepe,  and  Hardie  have  all  sacrificed  the  program  in 
the  interest   of    solidarity.     It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell 

*  Of  course  I  am  using  the  term  only  as  it  applies  to  political  tactics. 
The  Fabian  Society  as  a  force  in  socialist  education  and  propaganda  cannot 
be  overestimated. 


208  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

upon  the  difference  between  these  tactics  and  those  of 
the  Fabians.  In  the  one  case  the  workers  are  left  unor- 
ganized, unconscious  of  their  strength,  and  incapable  of 
exercising  their  will  or  of  fulfilling  their  immense  obh- 
gations  to  society.  In  the  other  they  are  taught  self- 
respect,  independence,  and  responsibility.  They  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  their  tremendous  power  when  united. 
They  become  conscious  of  their  moral  obligation  to  each 
other  and  to  society,  —  an  obligation  which  they  cannot 
throw  on  to  other  shoulders.  Above  all  they  are  taken 
out  of  the  corrupting  and  demoralizing  atmosphere  of 
Liberal  and  Tory  party  patronage  which  enervates  when  it 
does  not  destroy  all  manly  qualities.  Fabianism  sacri- 
fices all  this  for  the  sake  of  specific  reforms,  perhaps 
extremely  important  in  themselves  and  of  great  social 
value,  but  they  will  be  obtained  fast  enough  when  the 
workers  are  once  organized  politically. 

Fortunately  there  is  no  disagreement  of  this  sort  on 
the  continent,  and  in  the  sense  I  have  used  the  term, 
there  are  few  Fabians  outside  of  England.*  Reform- 
ism is  a  different  tactic  altogether,  as  it  presupposes  a 
party.  It  is  a  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  party  as  a 
whole.  It  has  the  same  confidence  in  the  conscience 
of  the  party  that  the  Fabians  have  in  individuals,  and 
is  without  fear  that  its  solidarity  will  suffer  or  its  social- 

*  Perhaps  there  should  be  one  reservation  made  to  this  statement.  In 
America  there  are  many  socialists  and  single-taxers  who  have  long  pursued 
the  Fabian  policy.  The  most  striking  instance  is  the  brilliant  fight  of 
Tom  Johnson  in  Cleveland.  He  has  the  almost  unique  distinction  of 
having  used  these  tactics  with  success.  But  in  winning  a  three-cent  fare 
he  has  done  no  more  than  the  socialists  of  Milwaukee,  and  in  addition  they 
have  built  up  a  great  party  that  has  already  forced  through  the  legislature 
and  city  council  many  important  reforms,  and  promises  to  become  a 
controlling  influence  in  Wisconsin  politics. 


SOCIALISM   A.\D   SOCIAL   REFORM  209 

ist  aim  be  obscured  by  the  adoption  of  a  more  genial 
and  compromising  attitude  toward  the  old  parties.  It 
urges  agreements  and  affiliations  before  election,  and  in 
the  legislative  chambers  cooperation  with  the  other 
advanced  parties  to  the  extent  of  forming  blocs,  and 
any  other  agreements  that  will  advance  reform  legisla- 
tion. It  considers  that  there  are  two  distinct  parts  to 
every  socialist  program  :  one  essentially  reformist,  the 
other  essentially  revolutionary.  For  the  time  being  it 
would  present  to  the  governing  classes  that  part  which 
is  most  easily  accepted,  and  work  together  with  them 
upon  that  basis,  leaving  the  other  part,  which  exceeds  the 
bounds  of  what  is  immediately  reaHzable,  to  the  future. 
Reformism  as  a  political  policy  seemed  to  reach  its 
cHmax  in  Europe  before  the  international  congress  at 
Amsterdam,  but  the  Titanic  struggle  between  Jaures 
and  Bebel  settled  the  matter  for  the  time  being.  Some 
details  of  that  debate  have  already  been  given  in  another 
chapter,  and  there  is  no  necessity  for  considering  it 
further.  Its  importance  lies  in  the  fact  that  Marx- 
ism, which  had  built  up  modern  socialism  and  had  for 
over  forty  years  been  the  basis  of  the  doctrine  and  pro- 
gram of  the  party,  was  definitely  established  as  the 
political  tactic  of  the  international  movement.  Of 
course  this  does  not  mean  that  the  party  has  abandoned 
efforts  for  immediate  reform.  It  simply  recognizes  the 
indisputable  fact  that  the  socialist  movement  cannot 
help  being  a  stupendous  reform  force,  and  that  no 
matter  what  course  it  pursues  the  mere  fact  of  its  exist- 
ence obliges  the  governing  classes  to  ameliorate  the 
conditions  of  the  workers. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SOCIALISM    IN    THE    PARLIAMENTS 

The  parliaments  of  continental  Europe  are  not  mere 
legislative  bodies :  they  exercise  a  profound  influence 
upon  thought  and  life.  The  newspapers  give  first  place 
to  parliamentary  news,  and  during  the  progress  of  a 
great  debate  every  detail  is  followed  with  interest.  The 
entire  conversation  in  cafes,  clubs,  and  even  at  private 
dinners,  is  often  devoted  to  the  parliamentary  events 
of  the  day.  The  "full-dress"  debates  are  numerous, 
and  resemble  in  many  ways  great  battles.  The  chief 
debaters  are  like  generals,  each  with  an  enthusiastic 
and  devoted  following.  The  parliaments  are,  therefore, 
not  dull  and  methodical  as  with  us,  discussing  mere  de- 
tails of  legislation ;  they  are  in  a  sense  the  centre  of  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  community.  The  discussions 
cover  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  Days  and  days  are 
spent  in  fighting  out  questions  of  principle,  and  the 
policies  of  the  government  are  considered  both  from 
the  theoretical  and  practical  standpoint  in  relation  to 
the  welfare  of  the  people.  It  is  surprising  how  little 
there  is  of  moment  that  does  not  find  its  way  into  par- 
liamentary debates,  and  one  who  follows  the  proceedings 
day  by  day  will  find  himself  an  couj-ajtt  with  nearly  all 
events  of  national  or  international  importance. 

One  reason  for  this  breadth  of  thought  and  influence 
upon  life  is  that  the  European  parliaments  are  in  every 

2IO 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  211 

way  more  powerful  than  our  own.  Historically  the  lower 
houses  have  come  to  be  thought  the  direct  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  as  opposed  to  the  hereditary  power 
of  the  monarchy  or  the  upper  houses.  They  are  thus 
looked  upon  as  nuclei  of  concentrated  public  opinion. 
To  a  degree,  therefore,  quite  unknown  to  us  their  deci- 
sions are  considered  final ;  and  only  in  case  of  serious 
danger  to  the  established  order  do  the  upper  houses  or 
monarchs  attempt  to  interfere.  The  latter,  as  a  result 
of  the  amazing  growth  of  democracy  throughout  Europe, 
feel  increasingly  their  precarious  position,  and  they 
rarely  interfere  when  the  lower  assembly  shows  a  de- 
termined and  hostile  spirit.  The  long  years  of  struggle 
between  democracy  and  autocracy  have  gradually  crippled 
the  power  of  the  latter  in  many  European  countries. 
In  republican  France  the  executive  has  very  little  power. 
"  There  is,"  Sir  Henry  Maine  says,  "no  living  function- 
ary who  occupies  a  more  pitiable  position  than  the 
French  president.  The  old  kings  of  France  reigned 
and  governed,  the  constitutional  king  reigns  but  does 
not  govern  ;  the  president  of  the  United  States  governs 
but  does  not  reign.  It  has  been  reserved  for  the  presi- 
dent of  the  French  republic  neither  to  reign  nor  yet  to 
govern." 

And  notwithstanding  the  increasing  helplessness  of 
the  European  executive,  there  is  no  judiciary  to  defeat 
the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  in  their  legislative 
assemblies.  The  power  of  the  French  parliament  is 
almost  omnipotent,  or  at  least  little  less  so  than  the 
British  parliament.  As  there  is  no  written  constitution 
in  England,  the  law  of  the  legislative  assembly  is  con- 
sidered final.  In  France  it  is  intended  that  the  constitu- 
tion shall  not  be  changed  by  the  ordinary  statute,  but  if 


212  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

the  chambers  should  decide  to  pass  a  law  that  was  ob- 
viously unconstitutional,  no  court  or  official  could  legally 
prevent  its  application.  In  Italy  there  has  long  been  a 
dread  of  judge-made  law,  and  the  courts  have  been 
gradually  rendered  impotent  to  thwart  legislative  de- 
cisions. There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  in  Germany 
as  to  the  power  of  the  courts  to  pass  upon  the  constitu- 
tionality of  an  imperial  law,  but  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that 
the  courts  will  ever  venture  to  set  aside  statutes  passed 
by  the  legislature  of  the  empire.  In  Austria  the  courts 
can  pass  upon  the  validity  of  ordinances,  but  are  es- 
pecially forbidden  to  inquire  into  the  constitutionality  of 
statutes.  Even  in  Switzerland  the  legal  tribunals  must 
enforce  without  question  the  laws  of  the  federal  assem- 
bly. In  none  of  these  countries  is  there  a  body  vested 
with  the  supreme  authority  that  rests  in  our  higher 
courts.  Both,  therefore,  in  the  absolute  power  of  final 
legislation,  and  in  their  moral  power  as  representatives 
of  the  people,  most  of  the  lower  houses  of  the  parliaments 
of  Western  Europe  exercise  a  dominant  influence  upon 
the  course  of  progress. 

Even  this  does  not  exhaust  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  European  legislators.  They  also  exercise  an 
effective  control  over  the  policy  of  the  administration. 
It  is  thought  that  to  have  the  power  to  pass  laws  without 
being  permitted  in  any  sense  to  control  their  method  of 
enforcement  is  to  render  the  popular  assembly  well-nigh 
helpless.  Little  by  little,  therefore,  the  lower  houses 
have  brought  under  their  control  the  ministers  in  charge 
of  the  various  executive  departments ;  and  in  nearly 
every  country  in  Europe  they  are  now  directly  responsi- 
ble to  the  lower  house.  When  the  government  is  a 
highly  centralized  one,  this  power  of  supervision  and  of 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  213 

effective  criticism  is  perhaps  as  important  as  the  legisla- 
tive work  itself. 

In  all  European  parliaments  the  legislators  have  the 
right  to  question  the  administration  upon  its  acts,  and 
even  in  advance  upon  its  policies.  In  England  this 
rarely  goes  beyond  questions,  but  in  France,  Italy,  and 
Belgium,  the  custom  has  grown  into  extended  inter- 
pellations. In  Germany  this  right  of  questioning  the 
government  is  invaluable,  as  the  legislative  power  of  the 
Reichstag  is  limited,  and  the  lack  of  ordinary  political 
rights  would  otherwise  prevent  the  socialists  from  exer- 
cising any  considerable  influence.  This  privilege  enables 
the  socialists  to  use  the  Reichstag  as  a  platform  for 
speaking  to  the  people.  It  is  customary  in  some  coun- 
tries to  limit  the  use  of  questions,  and  often  they  may 
be  addressed  to  a  minister  only  with  his  consent.  .  But 
the  interpellation  is  a  matter  of  right,  which  any  repre- 
sentative may  exercise  irrespective  of  the  wishes  of  the 
cabinet.  Thus  it  is  often  the  vehicle  for  the  severest 
criticism  of  the  government ;  and  as  any  section  of  par- 
liament may  exercise  it  at  will,  it  gives  that  section,  no 
matter  how  small,  an  exceptional  opportunity  to  place  its 
views  before  the  country. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  overestimate  the  value  to 
democracy  of  the  right  of  interpellation.  It  is  an  in- 
valuable aid  to  those  whose  rights  are  jeopardized  by 
official  violence  or  by  any  form  of  governmental  injustice. 
Except  in  Russia,  and  a  few  of  the  more  backward  coun- 
tries, it  is  inconceivable  that  in  Europe  men  should  be  shot, 
deported  from  their  homes,  denied  every  constitutional 
protection,  and  put  at  the  mercy  of  martial  law,  —  as 
happened  for  a  period  of  many  months  a  year  or  so  ago 
in  Colorado,  —  without  the  entire  country  knowing  both 


214  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

sides  of  the  case.  And  it  is  for  exactly  this  reason  that 
the  right  of  interpellation  is  regarded  in  Europe  as  one 
of  the  main  bulwarks  of  political  liberty. 

A  dramatic  element  adds  to  the  influence  of  European 
parliaments.  A  section  of  a  legislative  body  may  at  any 
moment  overturn  an  unpopular  administration.  Again 
and  again  cabinets  are  forced  to  resign  as  a  result  of 
acts  which,  if  committed  daily  by  American  executives, 
would  go  unquestioned.  In  watching  the  French 
chamber  at  work  for  a  few  weeks  I  saw  the  socialists 
several  times  give  the  government  a  thoroughly  un- 
pleasant trouncing :  twice  upon  its  policy  in  dealing 
with  two  serious  strikes,  and  once  it  was  put  in  danger 
over  the  administration  of  the  law  defining  the  relation 
of  the  church  to  the  state.  Upon  these  occasions  the 
debates  were  of  intense  interest,  and  it  seemed  as  if  all 
Paris  were  watching  the  outcome. 

But  the  debates  in  the  European  legislatures  are  not 
limited  to  specific  questions  of  administrative  policy. 
There  is  no  hesitancy  whatever  to  grapple  with  great 
and  fundamental  social,  economic,  and  political  principles. 
In  fact,  nearly  all  questions  having  to  do  with  adminis- 
trative policy  present  themselves,  in  one  way  or  another, 
either  as  the  working  out  or  the  violation  of  some  general 
principle  which  is  supposed  to  underlie  social  institu- 
tions. During  the  last  decade  the  socialists  have  led 
most  of  these  battles ;  and  naturally,  as  their  attitude  is 
severely  critical  of  the  principles  underlying  the  present 
order,  they  have  again  and  again  drawn  the  representa- 
tives of  the  majority  into  heated  discussions  upon  funda- 
mentals. In  this  way  Bebel  used  to  be  pitted  against 
Bismarck,  and  is  now  carrying  on,  from  day  to  day,  a 
running   parliamentary    battle    with   von    Buelow.      In 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  21 5 

France,  it  is  Jaures  against  Clemenceau,  in  Belgium 
Vandervelde  against  de  Smet  de  Neyer,  and  in  Italy 
Ferri  against  Giolitti.  On  the  occasions  of  these  great 
debates  the  galleries  are  crowded,  and  thousands  fail  to 
obtain  seats,  while  the  people  generally  display  an  un- 
flagging interest. 

This  is  all  in  extraordinary  contrast  to  our  own  parlia- 
mentary Hfe,  which  passes  on  from  day  to  day  without 
raising  a  single  ripple  of  excitement.  One  can  even 
read  the  papers  diligently  and  not  obtain  any  consecu- 
tive notion  of  what  is  happening  in  the  chief  legislative 
body  of  the  nation.  The  people  know  that  nothing  of 
any  importance  is  going  to  happen,  and  they  fully  real- 
ize that  the  legislature  has  little  power,  and  almost  no 
desire  to  exercise  that  power  in  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity. As  there  exist  only  two  parties,  there  is  nearly 
always  a  permanent  majority  during  the  legislative 
session  ;  and  while  in  other  countries  this  would  give 
the  party  in  power  an  opportunity  to  carry  out  its  policy 
unhindered,  it  seems  to  be  with  us  an  opportunity  to 
prevent  the  passage  of  any  measure  of  national  interest. 
The  body  is  strictly  limited  to  legislative  work,  and  the 
ministers  and  executive  are  in  no  wise  responsible  to  it. 
Decentralized  government  puts  quite  out  of  the  reach  of 
our  legislators  some  of  the  most  important  executive 
departments;  and  no  matter  how  badly,  unjustly,  or 
even  autocratically  the  law  is  administered,  the  legisla- 
ture has  no  power  to  interfere ;  it  can  only  retort  by 
some  change  in  the  law.  Our  parHamentary  work, 
therefore,  consists  largely  in  passing  laws  which  are 
soon  repealed,  and  then  with  the  growth  of  abuses 
passed  again.  Our  executive  is  only  less  powerful  than 
our  judiciary,  which  in  America  exercises  an  autocratic 


2l6  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

influence  over  the  course  of  legislation ;  so  that,  instead 
of  being  governed  by  popularly  elected  representatives, 
we  are  the  subjects  of  a  judiciary  which  wields  a  greater 
power  than  that  vested  in  any  monarch  or  upper  house 
of  Western  Europe. 

In  addition  to  these  constitutional  disabilities  we  suffer 
from  the  fact  that  our  electoral  power  is  in  the  hands  of 
two  political  parties,  while  in  nearly  all  continental 
countries  there  are  many  parties.  It  is  an  old  custom 
among  the  Anglo-Saxons  for  two  parties  to  battle  for  su- 
premacy. The  institution  is  being  mutilated  at  present 
in  England,  but  in  America  it  remains  unimpaired.  To 
a  certain  extent  both  parties  exist  without  principles, 
and  the  main  distinction  between  them  is  that  one  is 
out  and  the  other  is  in.  On  the  continent  the  various 
parties  represent  widely  different  principles  and  in- 
terests, perhaps  as  a  rule  the  latter  more  than  the 
former.  Thus  in  nearly  every  country  there  are  politi- 
cal groups  representing  royalty,  the  landowning  interests, 
the  capitalists,  and  the  workers.  In  some  cases,  how- 
ever, the  parties  avow  certain  principles  ;  and,  of  course, 
in  all  countries  the  socialist  party  rests  its  entire  cam- 
paign upon  a  definite  program,  fully  stating  its  funda- 
mental principles  and  doctrines.  Instead  of  two  parties, 
therefore,  the  political  forces  are  broken  up  into  number- 
less groups  representing  almost  every  phase  of  national 
life ;  and  when  a  government  comes  into  power,  it  is 
confronted  by  the  "difficult  problem  of  trying  to  har- 
monize the  interests  of  a  sufficient  number  of  represen- 
tatives to  form  a  working  majority. 

This  splitting  up  of  the  political  forces  into  groups  is 
largely  due  to  the  system  of  voting.  The  second  ballot 
is  in  almost  general  use.     The  theory  is  that  where  three 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  21/ 

or  four  candidates  are  in  the  field,  one  may  be  elected 
without  having  obtained  the  support  of  an  actual  major- 
ity of  the  constituents.  The  first  ballot  enables  all  the 
various  groups  to  vote  for  a  candidate  directly  represent- 
ing their  own  interests  ;  but  at  the  second  election  only 
the  two  candidates  that  received  the  highest  number  of 
votes  remain  in  the  field.  This  electoral  method  enables 
the  various  sections  to  test  their  strength  at  the  first 
ballot,  knowing  that  if  they  fail  in  electing  their  own 
representative,  they  have  still  an  opportunity  to  elect  the 
one  who  seems  to  them  the  better  of  the  two  candidates 
remaining  in  the  field.  As  a  result  it  is  possible  for  the 
voters  on  the  continent  to  maintain  a  party  with  princi- 
ples, instead  of  being  forced  to  vote  at  all  times  for  the 
one  whom  they  consider  the  better  of  two  candidates 
put  forward  by  the  opposing  political  machines.  How- 
ever inefficient  or  dishonest  the  candidates  may  be,  no 
other  choice  exists  where  only  two  parties  battle  for 
supremacy. 

This  is,  of  course,  what  happens  repeatedly  in  Amer- 
ica. Except  for  an  occasional  independent  campaign, 
and  the  nominees  of  the  prohibition  and  socialist 
parties,  the  voters  are  forced  to  select  one  of  two  can- 
didates, both  of  whom  may  be  unprincipled  and  in- 
efficient. When  it  occurs,  as  it  does  frequently,  that 
the  two  main  political  organizations  are  secretly  united 
for  the  purpose  of  betraying  the  people,  representative 
democracy  becomes  a  farce,  and  government  by  the 
people  degenerates  into  government  by  two  unprinci- 
pled and  predatory  machines.  The  evil  is  not  a  new 
one,  and  various  independent  political  parties  have  been 
alive  to  its  dangers.  In  1874  a  party  was  formed  in 
Cahfornia,  which  denounced  in  its  program  the  doctrine 


2l8  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

of  party  fealty  and  the  tyranny  of  party  discipline  as 
the  greatest  political  evils  of  the  time.  Twenty  years 
later  the  Populist  party  declared  that  the  nation  had 
been  brought  to  the  verge  of  moral,  political,  and 
material  ruin  by  the  corruption  which  dominates  the 
ballot-box,  the  legislatures,  the  congress,  and  the  ju- 
diciary. "  We  have  witnessed,"  the  program  says,  "for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  struggle  of  the 
two  great  political  parties  for  power  and  plunder." 

Again  and  again  these  independent  movements  have 
arisen  with  the  idea  of  breaking  down  machine  rule. 
Both  the  Greenbackers  and  the  Populists  obtained  the 
rank  of  national  parties,  with  seats  in  Congress,  and 
even  in  the  Senate  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  began  to  ex- 
ercise a  really  important  influence  one  of  the  old  parties 
adopted  their  program  or  some  of  their  candidates, 
with  the  result  in  every  case  of  destroying  the  organ- 
ization. The  first  campaign  of  Henry  George  in  New 
York  and  the  recent  one  led  by  William  R.  Hearst 
were  destroyed  in  a  similar  manner.  There  is  no 
question  but  that  it  would  have  been  easier  for  these 
movements  to  have  continued  independent  if  the  second 
ballot  had  been  in  use ;  but  even  without  the  second 
ballot  a  party  with  the  highest  principles,  and  with  a 
consciousness  of  the  power  which  a  hostile  third  party 
can  exercise,  even  in  the  face  of  formidable  opposition, 
might  have  come  to  occupy  a  position  similar  to  that 
held  by  like  parties  in  Europe.  Unfortunately  the 
Americans  seem  not  yet  to  realize  that  an  independent 
movement,  which  can  force  one  of  the  old  parties  to 
adopt  its  program,  might  exercise  a  similar  power  in 
other  directions  by  continuing  its  independent  methods. 
In  nearly  every  country  of  Europe  the  old  parties  have 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  219 

pursued  the  tactic  of  partially  adopting  the  socialist  pro- 
gram for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  movement,  but 
in  each  case  the  attempt  has  failed.  The  socialists 
have  considered  this  as  only  the  beginning  of  their  in- 
fluence as  an  independent  political  force. 

The  lack  of  principles  and  political  foresight,  and 
especially  the  overwhelming  desire  to  win  power  im- 
mediately and  by  strategy,  which  often  distinguish  the 
"  reform  "  movements  from  the  sociaUst  movement,  have 
enabled  the  bosses  to  outwit  and  divide  every  sincere 
body  of  radicals,  with  the  result  that  the  corporations 
are  now  in  complete  control  of  all  our  law-making 
bodies,  leaving  America  with  the  unenviable  and  unique 
distinction  of  being  the  only  large  country  where  work- 
ing men  have  no  representation  in  its  chief  legislature. 
The  House  of  Representatives  is  a  striking  instance 
of  the  dominant  power  of  capitalism.  Neither  the 
farmers  nor  the  working-class  as  such  have  any  directly 
controlled  representatives.  The  Senate  is  largely  a 
body  of  millionaires  and  their  legal  retainers.  As  a 
rule  over  60  per  cent  are  lawyers,  and  the  rest  are 
nearly  all  capitalists,  without  the  slightest  interest  in 
or  sympathy  with  the  workers.  It  is  the  same  in  the 
House,  where  again  not  less  than  60  per  cent  are 
also  lawyers ;  that  is  to  say,  railroad  attorneys  and  the 
representatives  of  the  great  monopolies  and  favored 
business  interests.  In  case  "a  friend  of  the  Peepul," 
as  he  would  be  called  in  Washington,  happens  to  get 
into  the  House  or  the  Senate,  the  legislative  machines 
are  so  strong  that  they  effectually  prevent  the  recal- 
citrant individual  from  being  heard.  The  speaker  of 
the  house  is  often  referred  to  as  a  Czar,  and  he  ex- 
ercises a  tyranny  over  the  representatives  which  would 


220  SOCIALISTS   AT    WORK 

not  be  tolerated  in  any  other  parliament.  The  United 
States  Congress  is,  therefore,  the  least  democratic  legis- 
lature in  any  advanced  country ;  and  for  this  reason  we 
are  the  most  backward  in  all  forms  of  legal  protection 
of  the  life  and  interests  of  the  masses. 

Passing  from  these  striking  contrasts  between  the 
parliamentary  situation  with  us  and  that  existing  in 
Europe,  we  find  that  the  socialist  groups  in  the  various 
parliaments  occupy  a  pecuhar  position  among  the  other 
political  representatives.  To  begin  with  they  are  con- 
trolled by  a  large  party  membership,  which,  through 
its  representatives,  has  agreed  upon  a  complete  politi- 
cal program  and  devised  a  conscious  and  definite  par- 
liamentary policy.  The  other  parties  of  Europe  are 
ordinarily  without  organization,  sometimes  consisting  of 
little  more  than  electoral  groups  or  national  clubs.  The 
parliamentary  representatives  are,  therefore,  not  as  a  rule 
bound  to  any  program.  In  the  case  of  the  sociahsts  the 
parliamentary  group  is  always  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  party,  and  this  constitutes  a  rather  striking  innova- 
tion in  political  methods.  The  general  scheme  of  politi- 
cal organization  was  worked  out  first  by  the  Germans, 
whose  socialist  party  is  older  by  far  than  that  of  any 
other  country.  As  early  as  1867  there  were  eight  repre- 
sentatives in  the  Reichstag,  and  by  1884  there  were 
twenty-four.  So  that  the  Germans  began  to  exercise  a 
parliamentary  influence  nearly  twenty  years  before  the 
socialists  of  any  other  country.  France  did  not  win  any 
seats  until  1887.  The  Belgians  obtained  representation 
first  in  1894,  and  the  Italians,  while  winning  their  first 
victory  in  the  early  eighties,  exercised  no  influence  until 
1895.  The  German  movement,  therefore,  was  early 
forced  to  meet  problems  unknown  to  the  workers  of 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  221 

other  countries,  and  to  fight  out  its  parliamentary  policy 
and  electoral  tactics  without  precedents  to  be  guided  by. 
It  was  natural  that  there  should  have  been  some  con- 
fusion during  the  early  days,  and  indeed  the  leaders 
were  greatly  divided  as  to  what  policy  the  party  should 
pursue  in  parliament.  The  Lassallians  were  wilUng  to 
make  the  most  of  parliamentary  alliances  in  order  to 
obtain  an  amelioration  in  the  condition  of  the  workers, 
while  Liebknecht  was  at  first  violently  anti-parhamen- 
tary,  fearing  lest  the  energies  of  socialism  should  be  en- 
gulfed in  the  swamp  of  parliamentarism.  He  wished 
to  go  to  the  Reichstag  merely  to  protest  against  the 
capitalist  regime,  and  especially  against  the  "  blood 
and  iron"  policy  of  Bismarck,  and  after  protesting,  to 
leave  without  resigning  his  seat.  It  was  a  rather  melo- 
dramatic method  for  a  party  to  pursue,  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  government  was  then  carrying  on 
a  ferocious  policy  of  persecution  against  socialists.  The 
organization  itself  was  illegal,  and  it  was  next  to  impos- 
teible  for  its  leaders  to  entertain  the  idea  of  a  working 
arrangement  with  anybody  not  actually  a  member  of 
their  secret  organization.  It  was  Bebel  who  first  broke 
away  from  this  negative  policy,  and  when  in  1869  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  discussion  upon  the  revision 
of  the  industrial  laws,  and  even  took  a  place  upon  the 
commission  instituted  to  study  the  question,  Liebknecht 
at  a  public  meeting  pronounced  a  severe  criticism  of  his 
action.  He  maintained  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain 
anything  except  by  force  from  a  parliament  made  up  of 
the  enemies  of  labor.  "What  practical  object  have  we 
then,"  he  asked,  "in  making  speeches  in  the  Reichstag.-' 
None  whatever ;  and  to  speak  without  an  object  is  a 
fool's  pleasure." 


222  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  Bebel  and  Liebknecht 
came  to  an  understanding,  and  at  the  congress  of  the 
Social  Democratic  Party  in  1870  the  delegates,  after  dis- 
cussion, adopted  a  definite  parliamentary  policy.  They 
agreed  that  the  main  purpose  in  taking  part  in  elections 
was  to  carry  on  the  socialist  propaganda,  but  that  the 
parliamentary  group,  while  maintaining  in  general  a 
strictly  negative  attitude,  should  nevertheless  take  part 
in  all  discussions  of  proposed  legislation  affecting  the 
interests  of  the  workers.  But  even  this  policy,  while 
more  advanced  than  the  other,  became  inadequate  as  the 
party  grew  in  power.  At  nearly  every  election  their 
votes  increased,  and  from  little  more  than  100,000 
in  1 87 1  the  number  increased  to  over  2,000,000  in 
1898.  As  its  following  became  greater,  its  responsi- 
bilities grew  heavier,  and  every  one  saw  that  a  broader 
parliamentary  policy  was  necessary.  At  the  national 
congress  in  1897  Liebknecht  himself  took  the  initia- 
tive, and  frankly  stated  that  events,  and  especially  the 
growth  of  the  party,  had  forced  him  to  alter  radically 
his  theory  of  parliamentary  tactics.  He  criticised  un- 
sparingly his  own  former  policy  of  anti-parliamentarism, 
which  he  called  contemptuously  the  tactic  of  talk ;  and 
advocated  with  eloquence  and  power  a  complete  and 
practical  parliamentary  policy  with  all  liberty  to  the 
party's  representatives  in  working  for  specific  legisla- 
tion intended  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  workers. 
"  That  is  the  necessary  tactic  of  the  party,  a  tactic 
infinitely  more  revolutionary  than  the  tactic  of  talk,"  he 
said  amidst  tremendous  applause.  "  Yes,  comrades,  he 
who  does  nothing  at  all  except  to  mouth  revolutionary 
phrases  is  at  his  ease  to  judge  and  to  condemn  ;  he  who 
does  nothing  can  make  no  mistakes.     But  he  who  acts, 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  223 

he  can  easily  make  mistakes ;  but  he  is  in  the  struggle, 
and  that  is  of  much  more  account  than  the  making  of 
beautiful  phrases." 

But  despite  the  fact  that  the  party  did  not  revise  its 
parliamentary  policy  until  the  nineties,  the  movement 
itself  was  exercising  a  profound  influence  upon  the 
course  of  legislation.  As  early  as  the  seventies  the 
German  government  began  to  fear  the  rising  tide  of 
socialism,  and  in  1878  Prince  Bismarck  told  the  Reichs- 
tag :  "  I  will  further  every  endeavor  which  positively 
aims  at  improving  the  condition  of  the  working-class. 
.  .  .  As  soon  as  a  positive  proposal  comes  from  the 
socialists  for  fashioning  the  future  in  a  sensible  way, 
in  order  that  the  lot  of  working  men  may  be  improved, 
I  will  not  at  any  rate  refuse  to  examine  it  favorably, 
and  I  will  not  even  shrink  from  the  idea  of  state  help 
for  those  who  have  the  disposition  to  help  themselves." 
Along  with  this  statement  came  the  proposal  for  the 
compulsory  insurance  of  the  working-class.  A  few 
years  later  Bismarck  proclaimed  his  belief  in  the  justice 
of  the  socialists'  contention  that  every  man  should  have 
the  right  to  work ;  and  in  comment  he  said  :  "  Give  the 
working  man  the  right  to  employment  as  long  as  he 
has  health.  Assure  him  care  when  he  is  sick,  and 
maintenance  when  he  is  old.  If  you  will  do  that  with- 
out fearing  the  sacrifice,  or  crying  out  'state  socialism' 
directly  the  words  '  provision  for  old  age '  are  uttered, 
.  .  .  then  I  believe  that  the  gentlemen  of  the  Wyden 
(Social  Democratic)  program  will  sound  their  bird-call 
in  vain  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  working  men  see  that  the 
government  is  earnestly  concerned  for  their  welfare, 
the  thronging  to  them  will  cease." 

These  two  quotations  from  Bismarck's  speeches  in  the 


224  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Reichstag  show  the  already  great  influence  of  the  so- 
cialist movement.  Even  the  socialists  were  astonished 
at  the  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  government ;  and 
it  seemed  a  remarkable  victory  to  have  forced  auto- 
cratic Germany  to  revolutionize  its  economic  policy. 
If  the  government  had  ceased  persecuting  the  social- 
ists, while  granting  these  concessions  to  their  program, 
it  might  have  disarmed  them.  But  as  it  was,  the  so- 
cialists and  not  the  government  obtained  the  entire 
credit.  Bebel  said  at  the  time,  in  the  humorous  and 
confidential  manner  he  occasionally  assumes  toward 
his  opponents  in  the  Reichstag  :  "  I  will  frankly  tell 
you  something.  If  anything  has  furthered  the  social 
democratic  agitation  and  tendency,  it  is  the  fact  that 
Prince  Bismarck  has  to  a  certain  extent  declared  for 
socialism  and  social  reform ;  only  one  must  remember 
that  we  are  in  this  case  the  master  and  he  the  scholar. 
People  are  saying  everywhere  :  When  to-day  Prince  Bis- 
marck with  his  great  authority  comes  forward  and  not 
only  acknowledges  the  existence  of  a  social  question,  — 
which  only  a  few  years  ago  was  emphatically  denied 
by  the  ruling  authorities,  —  but  even  declares  for  so- 
cialism, and  regards  it  as  his  duty  to  introduce  meas- 
ures on  the  subject,  then  it  may  well  be  concluded  that 
social  democracy  is  at  bottom  right." 

At  this  time  the  two  chief  leaders  in  the  German 
movement  were  Liebknecht  and  Bebel.  Liebknecht 
was  the  older  of  the  two,  and  a  man  of  exceptional 
education.  "  As  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,"  Edward  Aveling  says,  "an  an- 
cestor of  his  was  professor  and  rector  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Giessen,"  and  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  a  forebear,  Martin  Luther,  "  was  making  some 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  22$ 

Stir  in  the  world."  His  thorough  education  and  schol- 
arly instincts  led  Liebknecht  to  think  of  a  university- 
career,  but  strong  democratic  sympathies  forced  him 
to  take  a  part  in  the  various  revolutionary  outbreaks 
which  were  occurring  in  1848,  in  all  parts  of  Europe. 
He  lay  in  prison  for  nine  months  as  a  result  of  his 
revolutionary  ardor,  and  finally  he  was  exiled  and 
forced  to  live  in  England  for  nearly  thirteen  years. 
There  he  met  Marx,  and  carried  on  his  studies  directly 
under  his  influence  and  tutelage.  In  1862  there  was 
an  amnesty  for  political  offenders,  and  Liebknecht  re- 
turned to  Germany.  A  few  years  later,  having  been 
banished  from  Prussia,  he  went  to  Leipsic,  where  he 
met  Bebel.  The  trade  unions  were  then  growing  in 
power,  and  Bebel  and  Liebknecht  joined  forces.  In 
1867  the  latter  was  again  imprisoned,  but  nevertheless 
in  September  of  the  same  year  he  was  elected  to  the 
Reichstag,  where  as  a  result  of  his  superior  educa- 
tion he  was  more  than  a  match  for  his  parliamentary 
opponents. 

Bebel,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  working  man,  and  in 
the  early  days  of  his  parliamentary  career  his  language 
was  rough  and  unpolished.  Occasionally  he  made  gram- 
matical errors,  and  was  hooted  at  by  his  opponents,  who 
even  called  out  that  one  who  could  not  speak  German 
properly  ought  not  to  pretend  to  talk  to  educated  peo- 
ple. Nevertheless,  Bebel  represented  infinitely  more 
than  Liebknecht,  personifying,  as  it  were,  the  entrance 
to  power  of  the  men  of  toil.  One  can  understand  that 
it  must  have  been  annoying  to  the  aristocrats  to  have 
had  this  rough  agitator  break  into  their  midst,  and  at 
first  Bebel  had  to  suffer  day  by  day  the  ridicule  and 
even  the  insults  of  the  representatives  of  the  educated 


226  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

classes.  But  Bebel  had  the  natural  power  of  oratory, 
and  even  in  those  days  he  often  humiliated  his  proud 
opponents. 

Princess  Catherine  Radziwill  gives  an  interesting 
picture  of  Bebel  in  her  recently  published  memoirs  of 
life  at  the  German  and  Russian  courts.  It  was  at  the 
time  Bismarck  was  trying  to  force  through  the  Reichstag 
the  anti-socialist  laws  ;  and  she  says  the  debates  between 
Bebel  and  Bismarck  were  listened  to  feverishly  by  all 
those  who  could  get  access  to  the  house.  "  They  were 
opened,"  she  says,  "by  the  Chancellor  himself,  who 
spoke  for  over  an  hour,  and  to  him  Bebel  replied  in  a 
speech  which  deserved  to  go  down  to  posterity  as  an 
example  of  eloquence.  Never  were  such  impassioned 
accents  heard  within  the  walls  of  the  old  building ; 
every  one  felt  moved  by  the  strange  persuasiveness  with 
which  this  remarkable  man  appealed  to  the  sense  of 
justice  and  humanity  of  the  whole  German  nation,  ab- 
juring it  not  to  make  outcasts  of  thousands  of  its  chil- 
dren. In  listening  to  those  savage  accents  one  seemed 
to  hear,  made  vocal,  the  writing  on  the  wall,  which 
amid  the  splendors  of  the  Persian  king's  supper 
appeared  to  remind  him  that  '  for  all  these  things  he 
would  be  brought  into  judgment'  It  is  impossible,"  she 
continues,  "  not  to  be  moved  by  an  argument  when  it 
comes  from  the  lips  of  Bebel.  He  speaks  of  poverty, 
of  misery,  of  vice,  as  a  man  who  has  known  and  suf- 
fered from  these  things.  He  knows  how  to  excite  his 
listeners'  pity,  not  for  imaginary  facts,  but  for  painful 
and  sad  truths.  He  knows  how  to  make  them  touch 
with  their  finger  all  the  evils  of  which  he  speaks  to 
them,  —  he  surpassed  himself,  but  his  efforts  were 
doomed  before  they  were  made." 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  22/ 

It  is  a  curious  example  of  the  irony  of  fate  that  the 
crude,  rough  working  man  of  forty  years  ago  is  to-day 
one  of  the  greatest  powers  in  Europe.  He  was  always 
an  orator,  and  to-day  he  is  the  ablest  parliamentarian  in 
Germany.  Now  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  experi- 
enced men  in  the  Reichstag,  his  memory  and  his  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  events  of  the  last  half  century 
give  to  his  utterances  an  authoritative  value  that  is  not 
equalled  even  by  those  of  the  emperor.  Despite  the 
fact  that  he  represents  in  the  Reichstag  a  small  minority, 
no  other  member  exercises  a  personal  influence  equal 
to  his  ;  and  one  can  actually  feel  a  thrill  of  excitement 
pass  through  the  chamber  when  he  rises  to  speak. 
Professor  Theodor  Mommsen,  the  great  German  histo- 
rian, once  said,  "  Everybody  in  Germany  knows  that 
with  brains  like  those  of  Bebel,  it  would  be  possible  to 
furnish  forth  a  dozen  noblemen  from  the  east  of  the 
Elbe  in  a  fashion  that  would  make  them  shine  among 
their  peers." 

It  would  serve  no  useful  purpose  to  treat  in  detail  one 
of  the  many  great  debates  that  have  occurred  in  the 
Reichstag  between  the  socialists  and  their  opponents. 
Hardly  a  month  passes  without  one  of  importance. 
And  I  have  already  shown  the  immense  influence  of 
the  movement  in  obtaining  the  most  revolutionary  re- 
form legislation  that  exists  in  any  country  in  Europe. 
The  running  fire  of  criticism  and  the  hostility  of  the 
socialists  have  simply  broken  down  and  shattered  all  of 
the  cherished  principles  of  economic  liberalism.  The 
government  has  been  driven  to  abandon  one  after  an- 
other, and  by  the  sheer  force  of  socialist  opposition  it 
has  been  obliged  to  grant  a  series  of  fundamental  social 
and    industrial    rights.     Bismarck   granted  in  principle 


228  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

the  right  to  employment,  and  the  imperial  legislation 
grants  the  right  of  compensation  to  the  aged,  to  the 
sick  and  infirm,  and  to  those  injured  in  industry.  The 
right  of  trade  union  organization,  of  striking,  and  of 
peaceful  picketing  are  also  now  assured  by  the  law,  and 
the  government  throws  upon  the  manufacturing  classes 
the  entire  responsibility  for  accidents.  The  right  of  the 
community  to  its  natural  resources,  to  its  public  utili- 
ties, and  to  the  unearned  increment  arising  from  the 
sale  and  transfer  of  land,  have  also  been  won  in  prin- 
ciple, and  in  no  small  degree  worked  out  in    practice. 

The  real  significance  of  the  parliamentary  victories  of 
the  socialists  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  workers  are  no 
longer  at  the  complete  mercy  of  the  capitalists.  They 
have  won  for  themselves  important  means  of  defence, 
and  instead  of  being  forced  individually  to  deal  with  their 
employers  they  have  acquired  entire  freedom  in  their 
battle  to  force  collective  contracts.  Some  of  the  worst 
forms  of  capitalist  exploitation  are  done  away  with  by 
labor  legislation,  which  establishes  a  certain  standard  of 
conditions  to  be  observed  in  industry  ;  and  if  an  em- 
ployee is  rendered  incapable  of  further  labor,  he  and 
his  family  are  insured  care  and  protection,  instead  of 
being  forced  to  become  beggars  and  paupers.  While 
the  sociahsts  are  pressing  upon  the  state  a  higher  con- 
ception of  its  social  duties,  they  are  at  the  same  time 
breaking  down  the  polity  which  acknowledges  that  all 
natural  resources  and  all  forms  of  profitable  enterprise 
are  divinely  estabhshed  for  the  benefit  of  the  capitaHst ; 
and  as  a  direct  result,  the  state  is  taking  into  its  own 
hands  some  of  the  most  important  and  socially  necessary 
of  the  capitalistic  enterprises. 

The  German  party  is  the  oldest,  and  because  of  that 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  229 

it  has  more  to  its  credit  than  any  other  movement,  but 
the  influence  of  sociahsts  is  quite  as  clearly  seen  in  the 
parliaments  of  other  countries.  In  the  chapter  on  the 
British  movement  some  details  are  given  of  the  power 
exercised  by  the  Labor  Party  during  the  last  two  years. 
The  gain  in  legislation  is  considerable,  but  the  most 
striking  change  to  be  noticed  as  a  result  of  the  advent 
of  labor  is  the  new  atmosphere  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. What  used  to  be  "  the  most  exclusive  and  inter- 
esting gentlemen's  club  in  Europe  "  has  been  invaded 
by  working  men,  and  their  presence  alone  has  revolu- 
tionized the  old  order.  Their  election  is  a  direct  impu- 
tation that  the  Liberals  and  Tories  have  neglected  the 
public  welfare,  and  that  the  public  know  it  and  have 
lost  confidence  in  them.  Probably  no  other  aristocracy 
in  Europe  has  in  the  past  enjoyed  a  power  so  free  from 
restraint  and  criticism  on  the  part  of  the  lower  classes 
as  the  British,  and  it  realizes  instinctively  the  funda- 
mental danger  of  the  present  situation. 

This  feeling  is  entirely  a  product  of  the  last  two 
years,  although  Hardie  has  from  the  beginning  irritated 
and  offended  the  representatives  of  the  old  order. 
Shortly  after  his  entrance  to  parKament  he  found  the 
House  one  day  in  the  midst  of  rejoicing  because  a  son 
had  been  born  in  the  royal  family.  There  was  a  great 
demonstration,  and  messages  of  congratulation  and 
felicitation  were  sent  to  the  mother.  At  almost  the 
same  moment  there  occurred  in  Wales  a  terrible  colliery 
disaster  in  which  many  miners  were  buried  alive,  and 
Hardie  arose  in  the  midst  of  the  parliamentary  rejoic- 
ings to  ask  the  House  to  send  to  the  wives,  mothers, 
and  sisters  of  the  miners  some  expression  of  its  sym- 
pathy.    It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  effect  of 


230  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

his  request.  The  members  of  what  was  supposed  to  be 
the  nation's  house  of  representatives  were  so  completely 
bound  up  in  their  narrow  family  circles  that  to  them  the 
death  of  these  workers  was  no  more  than  a  passing 
newspaper  story  ;  and  the  mere  mention  of  this  terrible 
accident  during  the  progress  of  the  festivities  was  an 
unwarrantable  piece  of  impudence  and  bad  taste.  It  was 
certainly  awkward  and  annoying,  but  it  was  significant  of 
the  broad  horizon  that  the  representatives  of  the  work- 
ing men  bring  with  them  when  they  enter  parliament. 
It  seems  a  breaking  down  of  class  lines ;  but  while  it 
does  not  go  as  far  as  that,  it  has  nevertheless  worked  a 
revolution  in  the  psychology  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
One  day  the  question  of  the  unemployed  was  being 
debated,  and  Hardie  sat  alone,  stung  and  embittered  by 
the  lack  of  all  consideration  or  sympathy  for  the  un- 
happy starving  wanderers,  until,  unable  to  contain  him- 
self longer,  he  called  out,  "  You  well-fed  beasts  !  "  It 
was  not  a  remark  that  one  expected  to  hear  in  the 
House  ;  but  it  had  its  effect  on  the  tone  of  the  discus- 
sion. '  Upon  a  similar  occasion.  Will  Crooks  said  with 
some  fire,  in  answer  to  the  Liberals  and  Tories  who  had 
been  saying  that  the  unemployed  were  lazy,  lounging 
vagabonds  who  did  not  want  work,  that  he  had  observed 
a  goodly  number  of  vagrants  about  Rotten  Row  —  a 
fashionable  English  promenade  —  dressed  in  top-hats 
and  spats.  On  still  another  occasion,  when  a  bill  was 
before  the  House  for  the  feeding  of  school  children,  the 
gentlemen  of  the  old  parties  had  been  saying  over  and 
over  again  that  the  children  were  hungry  not  so  much 
because  of  poverty  as  because  their  mothers  did  not 
know  how  to  cook,  or  preferred  drinking  in  the  saloons, 
or  gossiping  with  their  neighbors,  to  attending  to  their 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  23 1 

household  duties.  This  would  have  passed  without 
comment  in  the  old  House ;  it  would  have  been  thought 
perfectly  proper  to  have  referred  in  this  manner  to 
several  million  mothers.  But  in  the  new  order  it  was 
taken  as  an  insult  by  the  men  on  the  labor  benches, 
and  one  can  imagine  the  electric  effect  on  the  House 
when  Hardie  remarked  that  it  was  embarrassing  for  the 
labor  members  to  sit  quietly  in  their  seats  while  hearing 
their  wives  described  as  slatterns.  These  are,  of  course, 
the  merest  incidents  of  debate,  but  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing they  are  more  significant  than  legislation.  In- 
stead of  merely  a  few  landowners,  younger  sons  of 
noblemen,  barristers,  solicitors,  capitalists,  and  other 
gentlemen  spending  their  time  largely  in  discussing 
their  own  affairs,  and  with  some  annoyance  philanthrop- 
ically  deciding  to  give  an  occasional  evening  to  a  bill 
having  to  do  with  remedying  the  frightful  abuses  of  the 
EngHsh  slums,  and  the  wretched  conditions  of  a  dete- 
riorating populace  of  some  12,000,000,  there  are  now  at 
least  a  few  representatives  of  the  underworld  who  have 
forced  their  way  into  the  midst  of  these  oligarchs,  to 
insist  upon  the  necessity  for  social  reform. 

To  say  the  least,  the  upper  classes  do  not  like  it,  and 
being  rather  put  to  it  to  find  a  way  out,  they  have 
begun  an  attack  upon  socialism  which  is  far  from 
observing  that  spirit  of  fair-play  upon  which  the  Briton 
has  always  prided  himself.  At  every  new  election 
fought  by  labor,  and  at  every  sign  of  its  increasing 
power,  the  bitterness  grows  more  intense ;  until  now 
the  propertied  interests  have  entered  upon  a  crusade 
against  socialism  and  are  trying  to  prove  that  it  advo- 
cates free  love,  the  destruction  of  the  family,  atheism, 
and    the    outright    confiscation    of    private    property. 


232  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Many  well-known  men,  including  some  prominent 
nobles,  are  at  present  issuing  manifestos  warning 
the  people  of  the  danger  to  England  of  this  new 
movement.  At  first  the  campaign  was  so  absurd  that 
the  socialists  looked  upon  it  complacently,  and  even 
considered  it  a  valuable  asset  to  their  propaganda,  but 
the  din  grew,  until  at  present  these  attacks  from  thou- 
sands of  platforms  and  nearly  all  the  newspapers  have 
become  too  serious  to  be  ignored.  Finally  Bruce  Glas- 
ier,  the  able  editor  of  "  The  Labour  Leader,"  like  a  lion 
at  bay,  has  turned  upon  the  accusers,  and  for  several 
weeks  has  answered  their  charges  by  a  series  of  articles 
so  damaging  to  the  Liberals  and  Tories  that  they  plan 
already  to  abandon  their  method  of  attack. 

In  answer  to  the  charge  that  socialism  is  spoliation, 
Glasier  has  given  the  shameless  facts  of  confiscation, 
bribery,  and  corruption,  that  have  been  practised  by 
prominent  English  families  in  building  up  their  vast 
fortunes.  In  answer  to  the  criticism  that  socialism  wishes 
to  alter  the  marriage  relation  and  to  estabhsh  a  licentious 
system  of  free  love,  he  takes  up  one  after  another  of  the 
Liberals  and  Tories  who  have  advocated  the  loosest  of 
sexual  relationships,  and  lived  lives  of  the  grossest  im- 
morality. As  a  testimony  upon  upper-class  ethics,  he 
quotes  one  marquis  to  the  effect  that  "  There  is  no 
law  of  nature,  human  or  divine,  in  man's  present  state 
which  confines  him  to  one  woman,  and  that  not  one 
man  in  ten  thousand  could  on  his  deathbed  swear  that 
he  had  truly  obeyed  the  marriage  law."  He  prints  the 
infamous  memorandum  of  Lord  Roberts,  a  Tory,  issued 
in  June,  1886,  which  instituted  compulsory  medical  ser- 
vice for  the  inspection  of  prostitutes  for  the  Indian 
Army,  and  drew  from  an  under  ofificer  a  request  that 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  233 

more  young  and  attractive  women  should  be  sent  out. 
In  answer  to  the  accusation  that  socialism  is  agnostic, 
Glasier  pursues  the  same  policy  of  proving  that  for 
every  militant  agnostic  among  the  sociaHsts  of  any  im- 
portance there  are  many  among  the  Liberals  and  Tories. 
He  shows  that  socialism  has  nothing  in  common  with 
confiscation  or  spoliation,  with  any  change  in  the  mar- 
riage relation,  or  with  any  alteration  in  the  religious 
views  of  the  individual.  The  response  of  the  socialists 
to  these  attacks  is  by  no  means  limited  to  this  effective 
work  of  Bruce  Glasier  in  "The  Labour  Leader."  Rob- 
ert Blatchford  and  all  the  other  journalists  have  taken 
a  hand  in  the  fight,  and  the  campaigners  of  both  the 
labor  and  socialist  parties  are  addressing  enormous 
audiences  at  about  two  thousand  meetings  every  week. 
I  have  dealt  at  length  with  this  situation  in  Eng- 
land because  it  illustrates  what  occurred  in  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe ,  as  soon  as  socialism  began  to  force 
its  way  into  parliament.  Similar  arguments  were  used 
against  it  in  Germany  during  the  seventies,  when  the 
movement  began  to  be  formidable  there;  and  by  imput- 
ing to  it  responsibility  for  some  attacks  upon  the  life  of 
the  emperor,  and  repeatedly  referring  to  it  as  a  criminal 
organization  advocating  every  immorality,  Bismarck 
was  enabled  to  force  through  the  Reichstag  his  iniqui- 
tous measures  which  made  outlaws  of  all  sociaHsts. 
In  France  during  the  eighties  and  early  nineties  the 
same  thing  occurred,  and  in  Italy,  although  the  so- 
cialists oppose  the  anarchists,  they  are  invariably  held 
responsible  for  the  work  of  the  latter  in  encourag- 
ing insurrection  and  violence.  What  is  happening  at 
the  present  moment  in  England  is,  therefore,  typical, 
but  this  form  of  attack  has  nowhere  in  Europe  availed 


234  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

to  defeat  socialism.  Indeed,  with  hardly  a  single  ex- 
ception it  may  be  said  to  have  aided  the  movement,  for 
as  soon  as  the  people  have  discovered  that  the  attitude 
of  the  upper  classes  is  one  of  intentional  misrepresen- 
tation they  have  turned  to  the  socialists  with  increasing 
enthusiasm.  And  when  the  upper  classes  in  other 
countries  have  learned  that  misrepresentation  and  false- 
hood have  only  a  momentary  effect,  and  are  followed 
by  a  strong  reaction,  they  have  settled  down  to  a  policy 
of  social  reform. 

We  are  beginning  to  see  the  same  change  in  attitude 
on  the  part  of  the  British  upper  classes.*  The  more 
far-seeing  political  leaders  begin  to  realize  that  the 
campaign  of  nastiness  and  falsehood  is  not  hurting 
socialism,  and  they  are  now  exerting  themselves  to  stop 
this  method  of  attack.  Lord  Milner  openly  rebukes 
the  anti-socialist  campaigners,  and  suggests  a  response 
similar  to  that  of  Bismarck  to  the  rising  tide  of  revolu- 
tionary feeling.  "The  true  antidote  to  sociahsm,"  he 
says,   "  is  practical  social  reform,"  and  he  urges  with 

*  There  is  a  faint  rumor  that  many  of  the  sincere  radicals  in  the  Lib- 
eral Party  are  becoming  convinced  that  this  campaign  is  a  cloak  for  reac- 
tion, and  that  back  of  it  are  men  in  the  Liberal  and  Tory  parties  who 
desire  not  only  to  oppose  revolutionary  socialism,  but  also  every  effort  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  masses.  These  reactionaries  are  notori- 
ously unsympathetic  toward  every  democratic  aspiration,  and  consistently, 
both  in  politics  and  in  business,  fill  their  own  pockets  at  the  expense  of  the 
community.  Some  of  the  more  high-minded  Liberals  and  Tories  find 
the  present  situation  intolerable;  because  however  much  they  differ  from 
the  views  of  the  extreme  sociahsts  they  differ  as  much  from  the  class  self- 
ishness and  inhumanity  of  the  reactionary  elements.  Therefore  it  is 
rumored  that  unless  a  majority  is  to  be  found  for  the  support  of  a  con- 
structive policy  of  social  reform,  the  more  public-spirited  of  the  younger 
men  may  form  a  new  party  resembling  in  some  respects  the  radical- 
socialists  of  France. 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  235 

passionate  intensity  the  necessity  for  remedying  the 
wrongs  of  private  property  in  time  to  save  the  country 
from  getting  into  the  hands  of  the  revolutionary  ele- 
ments. Many  other  prominent  leaders  are  expressing 
the  same  views,  and  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  pres- 
ent inadvisable  method  of  meeting  advancing  socialism 
will  be  revised.  It  is  not  improbable,  therefore,  that 
within  the  next  few  years  we  shall  see  both  the  Liberal 
and  Tory  parties  competing  with  each  other  to  intro- 
duce social  legislation  as  radical  in  character  as  the 
state  socialism  of  Germany. 

In  both  Germany  and  England,  therefore,  we  find 
that  socialism  is  a  powerful  parliamentary  force,  and 
even  occupies  a  foremost  place  in  the  thought  of  the 
entire  community.  And  this  is  not  less  true  of  France 
and  Italy.  In  the  Latin  countries  the  fear  of  sociaHsm 
on  the  part  of  the  upper  classes  has  become  almost  a 
mania.  Two  causes  lie  at  the  bottom  of  this  dread. 
The  first  is  the  revolutionary  tradition  among  the 
Latin  peoples  ;  and  secondly,  there  is  hardly  an  upper- 
class  man  in  Italy  or  France  who  does  not  fear  that 
the  slightest  change  in  events  may  bring  the  socialists 
into  power.  In  talking  with  well-to-do  men  one  fre- 
quently hears  it  said,  with  a  kind  of  despair,  that 
socialism  is  inevitable.  Among  the  masses  it  arouses 
unbounded  enthusiasm,  and  it  is  unquestionable  that 
it  is  fast  taking  hold  of  the  entire  working-class.  It 
is  sometimes  difficult  to  account  for  its  influence,  be- 
cause as  a  rule  the  movement  is  badly  organized  in 
these  countries,  and  most  of  its  adherents  rarely  read 
sociahst  books  or  pamphlets.  It  is  more  of  an  instinc- 
tive movement  than  one  finds  in  England,  which  gives 
an  Anglo-Saxon  the  feeling  of  unsafe  foundations. 


236  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

In  Italy  the  political  leaders  of  the  older  parties 
lack  the  power  to  concentrate  the  propertied  classes 
upon  really  effective  measures  of  social  reform.  The 
reactionaries  are  extremists  with  no  faith  in  any  other 
method  of  dealing  with  discontent  than  massacring 
the  people  at  every  sign  of  an  uprising,  and  limiting 
the  right  of  free  speech,  combination,  and  the  suffrage. 
Their  retort  to  the  cry  of  misery  is  martial  law,  a 
permanent  form  of  which  they  tried  to  force  through 
parliament  in  1899.  The  effect  of  repression  is,  of 
course,  not  what  they  hope  for,  as  instead  of  pacifying 
they  inflame  the  masses  until  they  resort  to  violence 
and  lawlessness.  The  parties  of  the  Right  will  not  see 
that  the  workers  are  driven  by  starvation  to  bread 
riots  and  strikes,  and  they  refuse  the  demands  of  the 
socialists  for  remedial  legislation.  As  a  result  a  situa- 
tion is  created  with  which  no  party  is  able  to  cope. 
Between  the  reactionaries  above  and  the  anarchists 
below  the  socialists  are  the  only  constructive  force  in 
Italy. 

The  middle  parties  are  weak  and  wavering.  Without 
principles  they  seek  and  obtain  power  under  the  cover 
of  one  or  two  leaders  of  excellent  character  who  are 
popular  in  the  country.  The  radicals,  the  republicans, 
and  the  socialists,  who  form  the  extreme  Left,  are 
unable  to  come  to  any  permanent  agreement  because 
of  vital  differences  in  their  views.  Recent  parliamen- 
tary history  is,  therefore,  a  continuous  record  of  repeated 
upheavals  resulting  from  these  clashing  forces.  The 
failure  to  agree  upon  any  measures  for  amehorating  the 
poverty-stricken  condition  of  the  masses  leads  the 
latter  more  and  more  to  despair  of  parhamentary 
methods.     Anarchism  is  again  making  headway  among 


SOCIALISM    IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  237 

the  most  wretched  of  the  workers,  and  leading  them 
to  desperate  revolts  and  insurrections,  which  the  social- 
ists, with  all  their  power,  cannot  prevent,  or  when  once 
started,  control. 

Recently  when  a  radical  ministry  came  into  power, 
the  socialists  gave  it  support  upon  the  assurance  that 
it  would  carry  out  a  program  of  social  reform.  One 
was  actually  drawn  up  that  included  extremely  im- 
portant and  advanced  legislation  in  the  interests  of  the 
people.  The  king  himself  seemed  favorable,  and  it 
looked  for  a  time  as  if  Italy  had  settled  down  to  a 
constructive  parliamentary  policy  which  promised  relief 
to  the  masses ;  but  after  a  time  some  strikers  were  shot. 
The  union  between  the  radicals  and  the  socialists  was 
then  broken,  and  the  same  old  parliamentary  antago- 
nisms flared  up  again. 

This  is  the  darker  side  of  Italian  parliamentary  Hfe, 
and  it  is  really  difficult  to  see  how  the  situation  will 
work  itself  out.  As  I  have  said  in  the  chapter  on 
Italy,  the  socialists  have  performed  an  enormously 
useful  work  in  the  exposure  of  corruption.  They  have 
unquestionably  the  ablest  leaders  in  Italian  political 
life.  Every  fair-minded  Italian  realizes  the  moderation 
of  their  minimum  program,  which  even  Professor  Villari, 
a  conservative  leader,  says  every  sensible  man  could 
indorse  almost  in  its  entirety.  But  there  seems  no 
immediate  prospect  of  the  socialists  gaining  a  par- 
liamentary majority,  and  until  that  is  accomplished 
misery  on  the  one  side  and  brutal  reaction  on  the 
other  make  peaceful  methods  barren,  while  violence 
only  results  in  increasing  misery  and  suffering  for  the 
unfortunate  workers.  The  situation  in  Italy  presents 
stupendous   difficulties   to  the  socialists,  and  while  no 


238  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

one  can  help  admiring  their  parliamentary  leaders,  and 
recognizing  the  superior  ability  of  Ferri  and  Turati, 
who  are  so  fearless  and  honest,  so  passionate  in  debate, 
so  careless  of  consequences  to  themselves,  one  cannot 
think  of  the  future  without  some  misgiving. 

Of  all  parties  the  French  socialists  seem  the  most 
fortunate.  They  have  many  able  orators,  and  both 
Guesde  and  Jaures  are  skilled  parliamentarians.  Un- 
fortunately, while  I  was  in  Paris  last  winter,  ill-health 
forced  Guesde  to  be  away,  so  that  I  did  not  see  him 
at  work  in  the  chamber ;  but  I  heard  Jaures  many 
times.  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  person  who 
possessed  in  a  larger  degree  the  necessary  qualities  of 
a  parliamentary  leader.  He  is  not  a  small  man  among 
small  men  ;  he  is  a  big  man  among  big  men.  I  mean 
by  that  that  the  French  chamber  contains  more  brill- 
iant orators  and  debaters  than  any  other  parliament  in 
Europe.  First  and  foremost  among  them  is  Clemenceau. 
He  has  a  remarkable  attraction  for  the  French  people, 
as  he  is  radical  and  fearless  and  personally  disinter- 
ested. He  has  fought  upon  the  popular  side  against 
all  waves  of  reaction,  including  the  ones  led  by  Gam- 
betta.  Ferry,  and  the  Boulangists.  He  has  upset  more 
governments  than  any  other  man  in  France.  His 
record  in  the  Dreyfus  affair  was  one  not  to  be  for- 
gotten. He  has  a  real  sympathy  for  the  aspirations 
of  the  people,  although  he  is  a  strong  individuahst.  A 
man  of  high  education  and  cultivation,  he  is  one  of  the 
most  formidable  debaters  in  the  French  chamber ;  and 
his  skilful  phrase,  epigrammatic  sentence,  and  burning 
satire  make  him  feared  by  those  who  find  themselves 
in  opposition.  His  high  individualist  idealism,  together 
with  a  deep-rooted  cynicism,  lends  to  his  political  views 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  239 

a  complexity  which  is  the  despair  of  opponents.  He 
is  the  kind  of  man  the  genial,  idealistic  Jaures  might 
be  expected  to  fear,  but  again  and  again  these  two 
extraordinary  men  cross  swords  in  battle. 

When  the  radicals  came  into  power  early  in  1907,  it 
seemed  a  necessity  to  the  logical  French  mind  clearly  to 
define  the  difference  in  policy  between  the  radicals  and 
the  socialists.  The  ministry  was  nominally  under  the 
control  of  Sarrien,  although  really  completely  in  the 
hands  of  Clemenceau ;  and  between  the  latter  and 
Jaures  there  occurred  a  significant  debate  upon  funda- 
mental social  and  political  principles.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  political  life  of  Clemenceau  he  faced  an 
opposition  with  views  more  extreme  than  his  own,  and 
he  taunted  the  socialists  with  being  a  party  of  negation, 
destruction,  and  violence.  He  defied  Jaures  to  pro- 
duce anything  constructive  in  their  policy.  In  answer 
Jaures  delivered  what  is  perhaps  the  clearest  state- 
ment that  has  yet  been  made  in  any  parliament  of  the 
constructive  ideas  of  socialism,  and  for  that  reason  it 
deserves  special  and  extended  consideration  in  this 
place.  It  was  the  intention  of  Jaures  to  make  an 
authoritative  declaration  and  as  far  as  possible  to  ex- 
press the  views  of  the  international  party,  and  he,  there- 
fore, quoted  decisions  made  in  party  council,  and  the 
views  of  the  chief  leaders.  Consequently  it  can  be 
considered  not  only  as  the  deliberate  statement  of  an 
eminent  leader  of  one  of  the  largest  national  parties 
in  Europe,  but  also  in  the  main  as  the  view  of  the 
international  movement. 

In  the  first  part  of  his  address  he  gave  a  hurried 
sketch  of  what  he  thought  would  be  the  main  outlines 
of  the  new  social  order  under  socialism,  and  he  prom- 


240  SOCIALISTS   AT  WORK 

ised,  if  the  chamber  would  give  him  time,  to  place 
before  it  a  more  comprehensive  and  detailed  plan  of 
the  legislation  which  would  bring  about  the  transition, 
and  the  main  institutions  which  would  exist  under 
socialism.  As  the  new  social  order  would  have  to 
evolve  out  of  present-day  society  it  would  have  to  be 
largely  influenced  by  national  institutions,  and  for  this 
reason  the  first  part  of  his  address  applies  particularly 
to  France.  Passing,  however,  from  this  consideration, 
he  endeavored  to  answer  the  question  whether  or  not 
the  socialist  order  would  be  established  by  the  con- 
fiscation of  capitalist  property. 

Jaures  confessed  that  he  could  not  foretell  with  any 
certainty  what  would  take  place.  "  It  is  not  because 
my  own  thought  on  this  question  is  uncertain  or  hesi- 
tating," he  said.  "  It  is  because  in  these  matters  pro- 
grams, even  when  they  are  clearly  determined  and 
deliberately  planned,  are  subordinate  to  the  force  of 
events.  You  have  had  a  proof  of  this  during  the 
great  French  Revolution,  which  began  with  decrees 
of  expropriation  with  compensation,  with  the  thought 
of  purchasing  most  of  the  feudal  rights ;  and  which 
afterward,  carried  away  and  exasperated  by  the 
struggle,  proceeded  to  that  expropriation  without  in- 
demnity. And  you  now  see,  gentlemen,  at  this  hour, 
a  similar  crisis  at  the  other  end  of  Europe.  There 
is  there  a  great  gathering,  the  first  national  gathering 
of  the  Russian  people,  which  is  studying  the  means  of 
giving  the  land  to  the  peasants  by  large  expropriations. 
The  leading  parties  of  that  assembly  propose  to  give 
compensation  for  the  large  private  estates  which  will 
be  expropriated.  Gentlemen,  it  will  not  depend  upon 
them  whether  they  can  bind  the  future  to  this  scheme. 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  24I 

It  will  be  realized  if  freedom  is  established  there  by 
legal  evolution  ;  but  if  the  government  blindly  resist, 
there  will  be  risings  and  rebellions,  and  it  is  Hkely  that 
the  expropriations  will  be  carried  out  in  a  very  different 
manner. 

"  That  is  the  reservation  I  wanted  to  make,  and  for 
my  part  I  have  no  pretension  of  laying  down  in  advance 
conditions  to  the  working-class,  to  the  world  of  labor. 
I  know,  and  I  declare,  that  the  rights  of  labor  are  sov- 
ereign, and  I  shall  assist  with  all  my  heart,  and  with  all 
my  mind,  in  any  effort  necessary  to  establish  a  new 
society.  But  I  have  the  right  before  parliament,  before 
the  working-class,  to  assume  the  hypothesis  of  a  legal 
transformation  of  a  regular  and  peaceful  evolution ; 
for  I  ardently  wish  that  such  a  consummation  may  be 
realized,  and  toward  its  realization  I  will  work,  we  will 
all  work,  my  friends  and  I,  with  all  our  strength,  for  a 
policy  of  democratic  reforms  which  will  increase  the 
legal  power  and  regular  means  of  action  of  the  working- 
class. 

"  It  is  with  this  thought,  with  this  hope,  that  I  invoke 
the  authority,  freely  admitted  by  our  reason,  of  all  the 
great  socialist  theorists  who  have  advised,  in  various 
ways  and  in  the  interest  of  the  social  revolution  itself, 
expropriation  with  compensation.  It  was  Marx  who, 
according  to  Engels,  uttered  these  words:  'It  will 
still  be,  if  we  can  proceed  by  compensation,  the  cheap- 
est way  to  achieve  the  revolution.'  He  meant  that  by 
this  means  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  suspend  for 
one  moment  the  productive  activity  of  the  country. 
Kautsky,  in  his  commentary  on  the  sociahst  program 
of  Erfurt,  said,  '  Expropriation  does  not  necessarily 
mean  spoliation.'     Our  friend  Vandervelde  has  spoken 


242  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

in  the  same  sense,  and  I  ask  of  the  House  permission  to 
read  the  powerful  and  beautiful  declaration  of  Lieb- 
knecht : — 

"  '  Social  democracy  is  the  party  of  the  whole  people, 
with  the  exception  of  two  hundred  thousand  great  and 
small  proprietors,  capitaHsts,  and  priests.  It  ought 
then  to  turn  toward  the  people  and,  as  soon  as  occasion 
offers,  by  practical  proposals  and  projects  of  legislation 
of  general  interest,  to  give  positive  proof  that  the  good 
of  the  people  is  its  only  aim,  and  the  will  of  the  people 
its  only  rule.  It  must  follow  the  path  of  legislation 
without  doing  violence  to  any  one,  but  with  a  firm 
purpose  and  unerring  aim.  Even  those  who  now  enjoy 
privileges  and  monopolies  ought  to  be  made  to  under- 
stand that  we  do  not  propose  any  violent  or  sudden 
measures  against  those  whose  position  is  now  sanc- 
tioned by  law,  and  that  we  are  determined,  in  the 
interest  of  a  peaceful  and  quiet  evolution,  to  bring 
about  the  transition  from  legal  injustice  to  legal  justice, 
with  the  utmost  consideration  for  the  individuals  who 
are  now  privileged  persons.  We  recognize  that  it  would 
be  unjust  to  hold  those  who  are  now  privileged  by  the 
sanction  of  bad  legislation  personally  responsible  for 
that  bad  legislation  and  to  punish  them  personally. 
We  declare  expressly  that  in  our  opinion  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  state  to  give  an  indemnity  to  those  whose  in- 
terests will  be  damaged  by  the  necessary  abolition  of 
laws  which  are  detrimental  to  the  common  good  in  so 
far  as  this  indemnity  is  consistent  with  the  interests  of 
all.  We  have  a  higher  conception  of  the  duty  of  the 
state  toward  the  individual  than  our  adversaries,  and  we 
will  not  lower  it,  even  if  we  are  dealing  with  our  adver- 
saries.' " 


SOCIALISM    IX   THE   PARLIAMENTS  243 

Following  this  statement  of  the  views  of  the  leading 
socialists  as  to  the  method  the  party  would  pursue  in 
establishing  the  new  order,  Jaures  declared  that  society 
had  reached  a  stage  of  development  wherein  it  was  no 
longer  of  public  utility  for  it  to  be  divided  into  two 
classes,  the  one  possessing  all  the  means  of  production, 
and  the  other  unable  to  make  use  of  its  labor  except  on 
conditions  which  the  first  class  was  willing  to  concede. 
He  showed  that  the  efforts  of  some  radicals  to  estab- 
lish compulsory  arbitration  would  not  affect  this  an- 
tagonism ;  that  the  present  civil  war  only  shows  itself 
on  the  surface  by  means  of  strikes,  but  is  going  on 
at  other  times  as  well.  It  is  at  the  very  bottom  of 
the  present  system  of  society,  of  a  system  of  property 
which  gives  power  to  one  class  and  inflicts  obedience 
on  the  other.  This  economic  civil  war  will  continue, 
now  apparent,  now  hidden,  now  loud,  now  silent ;  but 
ever  with  the  same  sufferings,  the  same  exaspera- 
tions, so  long  as  the  world  of  production  is  divided 
into  two  antagonistic  camps.  He  admitted  that  there 
were  means  of  softening  the  shocks,  but  he  declared 
that  this  permanent  fundamental  antagonism  results 
from  the  very  privilege  of  property,  and  can  never 
be  entirely  prevented  until  the  capital  necessary  to 
social  labor  is  absorbed  by  the  workers.  "  There  must 
be  but  one  directive  force,"  he  said ;  "  namely,  the  crea- 
tive force  of  labor." 

Considering,  therefore,  that  the  greatest  public  neces- 
sity at  the  present  moment  was  to  harmonize  the 
relations  between  capital  and  labor  by  making  them  one 
in  power  and  direction,  Jaures  answered  the  assertion 
that  if  this  were  accomplished  by  compensation,  there 
would  still  exist  some  rich  and  some  poor  and,  therefore. 


244  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

a  class  antagonism,  by  saying  that  the  bonds  of  com- 
pensation given   to  the   holders  of   capital  at  the  time 
of  expropriation  would  be  limited  in  their  power  by  the 
very  nature  of  the  new  society.     At  the   present  time 
title-deeds    and    bonds    enable   their   holders   either   to 
purchase  the  means  of  production  and  of  profit,  such  as 
factories,   buildings,   shares,   etc.,  or   else    to    purchase 
products  for  consumption.     In  the  new  society,  when 
capital  shall  have  been  socialized,  when  the  community 
shall  have  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  organized  workers 
the  means  of  production,   the  bonds  of  compensation 
which  will  be  given  to  the  former  capitalists  will  not 
enable  them  to  purchase  further  means  of  production ; 
they  will  only  enable  them  to  purchase  the  products  of 
labor.     Illustrating  this  argument,  he  said  that  when  the 
law  aboHshed    slavery  and  compensated    slave-owners, 
the  latter  were  not  able  to  use  their  compensation  for 
the  purchase  of  new  slaves,  and  when  capitalist  prop- 
erty shall  have  been  socialized,  the  holders  of  compen- 
sation deeds  will  not  be  able  to  purchase  either  fresh 
means  of  production  or  producers.     "  Thus,  gentlemen," 
he  said,  "  to  those  who  put  forward  the  objection  that 
if,  when  expropriating  capital,  compensation  is  not  given, 
it  is  sheer  robbery,  and,  if  it  is,  capitalism  will  be  recon- 
stituted, I  reply  that  between  the  title-deeds  of  socialized 
society  and  those  of  capitalist  society  there  is  this  fun- 
damental difference :  that  the  latter  are  means  of  domi- 
nation  and  exploitation,  which  are  constantly  renewed 
at  the  expense  of  human  labor  by  the  play  of  interest 
and  profit,   whereas  the  others  will   only  be  means  of 
consumption  and  will  exhaust  themselves  by  degrees, 
leaving  labor  unhampered  and  organized." 

Jaur^s  then  declared  that  whatever  the  judgment  of 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  245 

his  opponents  might  be  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  sociahst 
order,  they  must  nevertheless  admit  that  they  were  in 
the  presence  of  doctrines  that  offered  a  precise  and  defi- 
nite solution  of  the  present  antagonism  between  labor 
and  capital.  And  he  further  declared  that,  having 
stated  the  socialist  position,  the  socialist  party  had  a 
right  to  demand  of  "  the  party  of  democracy  and  prog- 
ress "  what  its  doctrine  was. 

"  What  can  you  do.?  "  Jaures  demanded.  "  What  can 
you  republicans  and  radicals  do  to  liberate  and  organize 
labor.?"  He  then  showed  that  Clemenceau  and  all  the 
radicals  had  for  over  twenty  years  criticised  the  existing 
order  with  the  same  severity  as  the  socialists,  and  that 
even  Clemenceau  had  once  signed  a  manifesto  declaring 
that  "whoever  is  not  a  socialist  is  not  a  republican." 
This  conscious  stirring  up  of  class  strife,  he  said,  was 
wicked  and  immoral  unless  those  doing  it  had  also  at 
the  same  time  some  means  for  remedying  the  evil.  "  It 
is  a  great  mistake  to  discredit  in  the  eyes  of  the  workers 
a  system  which  you  do  not  know  how  to  abolish.  While 
you  were  in  opposition,  it  was  perhaps  natural  that  your 
attitude  should  be  critical;  but  now,"  he  continued,  "you 
are  not  only  in  power,  you  are  the  power,  not  only  in 
appearance,  not  only  in  part,  but  by  the  simultaneous 
arrival  of  a  government  whose  members  are  radicals 
and  of  a  radical-socialist  majority.  You  have  full  power 
and  therefore  full  responsibility.  I  ask  you  then  :  What 
are  you  going  to  do  .-'  "  Taking  up  the  radical  program, 
he  showed  its  inconsistencies  and  fundamental  weak- 
ness. They  had  sent  representatives  to  the  Hague  to 
support  any  proposition  for  the  limitation  of  military 
expenditure,  and  they  had  begun  their  government  by 
an  increase  in  that  expenditure.    They  had  said  nothing 


246  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

on  the  question  of  railways,  and  in  passing  upon  some 
new  mining  laws,  they  had  not  attempted  to  insure  to 
the  workers  better  conditions  or  a  higher  reward  for 
their  labor.  He  traced  this  weakness  to  the  fear  of  the 
government  lest  a  policy  which  should  be  in  the  shghtest 
degree  positive  in  these  matters  would  frighten  investors 
and  alarm  the  stock  exchange. 

Clemenceau,  answering  Jaur^s,  stated  that  he  and  the 
cabinet  were  in  entire  agreement  with  the  socialists  in 
nearly  all  of  their  practical  program.  In  his  opinion 
the  socialists  and  the  radicals  could  move  together  for 
some  time  upon  the  lines  of  their  immediate  program, 
and  that  ought  to  sufifice.  But  he  condemned  the  larger 
scheme  of  socialization,  which  he  said  would  only  pro- 
duce a  disastrous  catastrophe  if  it  were  attempted  to 
put  it  into  operation  suddenly.  "Here  is  a  list  of  M. 
Jaures'  immediately  realizable  reforms,"  he  said.  "  An 
eight-hours  day,  the  right  of  state  employees  to  com- 
bine, national  insurance  against  unemployment  and 
sickness,  a  progressive  income  tax  and  death  duties,  the 
return  to  the  nation  of  the  monopolies,  and  propor- 
tional representation.  Why,  that  is  a  horribly  bourgeois 
program,  and  when  M.  Jaures  asked  me,  '  What  is  your 
program  ? '  I  could  scarcely  refrain  from  answering  at 
once,  '  My  program .''  Why,  it  is  in  your  pocket.  You 
have  picked  it  from  mine.'  " 

But  Clemenceau's  old  individualist  views  forced  him 
in  opposition  to  Jaures  with  regard  to  strikes.  "  I  hold 
that  every  man  who  wants  work,"  he  said,  "  has  the  right 
to  ask  society  and  the  public  powers  to  protect  him  in 
the  exercise  of  that  right."  The  government  must  use 
its  power  to  put  down  violence  and  to  maintain  order. 

Jaures,  in  his  reply,  showed  the  difference  between 


SOCIALISM   IX  THE   PARLIAMENTS  247 

the  position  of  the  capitalists  and  that  of  the  workers. 
"  What  you  mean  by  the  maintenance  of  order,"  he 
said,  "  is  the  repression  of  all  excesses  on  the  part  of 
the  workers,  while  admitting  violence  on  the  part  of  the 
employers.  You  forget  the  difference  between  the  con- 
dition of  laborers  and  employers.  Yes ;  violence  is 
gross,  visible,  when  used  by  the  workers.  A  threaten- 
ing gesture,  a  brutal  act;  they  are  seen  and  noted. 
Their  author  can  be  promptly  dragged  before  judges, 
and  dealt  with.  But  how  about  the  employers  ?  They 
have  no  need  to  indulge  in  violent  language,  in  gestures. 
Their  violence  can  be  carried  out  in  orderly  fashion. 
A  few  men  meet  in  private,  in  full  security,  Hke  an  or- 
derly board  meeting,  around  a  table.  And,  like  diplo- 
matists, without  violence,  without  shouting,  without 
gestures,  they  calmly  decide  that  a  reasonable  wage 
shall  be  refused.  They  decide  that  those  workers  who 
keep  up  the  fight  shall  be  excluded  ;  that  by  some  secret 
sign  in  their  work-book  they  shall  be  known  to  all  em- 
ployers,—  that  they  shall  be  marked  men.  That  is  the 
silent  method;  it  is  the  murderous  engine  which  has 
caught  the  unfortunate  victim  and  silently  crushes  him, 
without  any  grating  noise  in  the  machinery. 

"  When  it  is  sought  to  fix  personal  responsibility  in 
any  trouble,  the  same  difference  is  seen.  The  work- 
man's share  is  easily  fixed ;  any  violent  act  is  soon 
brought  home  and  punished.  But  when  it  comes  to  the 
responsibilities  of  the  masters,  in  such  a  case  as  the 
Courrieres  disaster  (a  terrible  mining  disaster  which 
killed  1500  men),  then  difficulties  arise.  Their  responsi- 
bilities are  wrapped  up  in  the  complications  of  anonymous 
capital,  of  Hmited  liability  companies.  There  are  subtle 
evasions   which   can   defeat   the   ends  of  justice.     An 


248  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

engineer  can  say  that  although  men  were  sent  down  into 
the  mine  when  it  was  known  to  be  on  fire,  according  to 
chemical  and  theoretical  discoveries  there  was  no  reason 
to  fear  the  danger  which,  as  events  proved,  existed. 
And  thus,  while  the  workman's  violence  is  ever  appar- 
ent, palpable,  and  easily  repressed,  the  deep  and  mur- 
derous responsibility  of  the  great  employers,  of  the 
great  capitalists,  ever  disappears  in  obscurity." 

Aside  from  the  really  fundamental  differences  be- 
tween the  two  parliamentary  groups,  Jaures  agreed  that 
there  was  something  in  common  in  their  immediate  pro- 
grams, and  he  assured  the  radicals  that  the  socialists 
would  give  them  every  assistance  in  carrying  out  their 
program  of  reforms.  "  If  you  are  in  earnest,"  he  de- 
clared, "in  your  desire  to  nationalize  railways  and 
mines,  and  to  carry  out  reforms,  let  it  be  clearly  stated, 
and  you  will  have  our  support.  No  reform  will  be 
wrecked  by  our  opposition,  but  while  our  method  is  that 
of  peaceful  reform  our  goal  will  ever  remain  the  revolu- 
tion ;  namely,  the  complete  transformation  of  the  present 
social  system." 

I  once  heard  Jaures  speaking  to  an  audience  of  per- 
haps 7000  people.  In  that  immense  hall  he  seemed  a 
different  man  from  the  one  I  knew  in  the  chamber. 
His  voice  had  the  power  of  a  great  organ,  with  endless 
changes  of  tone  and  expression,  with  modulations  with- 
out limit  and  with  a  sustained  emphasis  and  climax  that 
seemed  to  me  as  extraordinary  as  anything  I  had  ever 
heard.  His  finished  oration  had  the  roundness  and 
perfection  of  a  poem.  On  another  occasion  I  heard 
him  speaking  to  the  men  of  the  street.  His  power  in 
this  instance  was  again  of  quite  a  different  character. 
He  became  a  mob  orator  equal  to  John  Burns  in  his 


SOCIALISM    IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  249 

best  days.  The  influence  he  exercised  over  his  audi- 
ence was  such  that  if  he  had  desired  to  lead  this  crowd 
of  men  to  storm  the  streets  of  Paris,  I  think  not  one 
would  have  failed  to  follow  him. 

In  the  chamber  Jaures  is  clever  and  adroit.  For 
nearly  twenty  years  he  has  been  in  the  midst  of  every 
important  parliamentary  crisis.  He  knows  the  secret 
of  parliamentary  influence,  and  he  uses  his  knowledge 
of  parliamentary  tactics  and  his  skill  as  a  debater  in  a 
manner  that  attracts  and  fascinates  the  whole  of  Paris. 
When  it  is  known  that  Jaures  is  to  speak,  the  galleries 
are  crowded,  and  hundreds  and  sometimes  thousands 
beg  for  admittance.  During  the  last  few  months  his  in- 
terpellations have  covered  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  and 
in  every  case  he  has  demonstrated  to  the  public  the  de- 
sire of  the  socialists  to  support  the  radical  ministry  in 
all  the  reforms  that  it  can  be  induced  to  carry  through. 
At  the  same  time  with  extraordinary  skill  he  has  put 
forward  the  difference  between  their  programs. 

It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  Jaures  has  done 
more  during  the  last  twenty  years  to  form  political 
thought  than  any  other  man  in  France.  His  battles 
against  the  royalists,  the  Bonapartists,  the  Liberals,  and 
the  nationalists,  his  extraordinary  activity  during  the 
Dreyfus  affair,  and  his  exceptional  power  in  harmoniz- 
ing the  new  socialist  views  with  all  the  republican  tra- 
ditions and  freedom-loving  aspirations  of  the  French 
people,  have  given  him  a  personal  power  and  a  following 
that  are  not  equalled  by  those  of  any  other  man  in  the 
French  chamber.  As  long  as  he  had  to  battle  with  out 
and  out  reaction  his  position  was  comparatively  easy, 
but  at  present  he  faces  a  more  subtle  form  of  opposi- 
tion.    As  was  said,  the  present  government  is  the  most 


250  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

radical  that  France  has  known  in  recent  years,  and  when 
Clemenceau,  late  in  1906,  took  the  place  of  Sarrien  at  the 
head  of  the  ministry,  the  first  utterances  of  the  cabinet 
were  so  advanced  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  radicals  had 
taken  over  everything  except  the  revolutionary  proposals 
of  modern  socialism.  The  cabinet  declared  for  the 
separation  of  the  church  and  state,  the  suppression  of 
martial  law,  the  abolition  of  the  dangers  of  the  white 
lead  industry,  the  nationalization  of  the  Western  railways, 
the  strict  enforcement  of  the  law  providing  one  day's 
rest  each  week,  and  finally  for  old-age  pensions  and  a 
graduated  income  tax.  Besides,  Clemenceau  invited 
three  socialists  to  take  positions  in  the  cabinet.  Mille- 
rand  refused,  but  Briand  and  Viviani  both  accepted  re- 
sponsible posts.  It  would  be  difficult  to  convey  an  idea 
of  the  popular  enthusiasm  that  prevailed  in  Paris  over 
the  announcement  of  the  program  and  the  composition 
of  the  new  ministry.  However,  the  situation  seemed 
critical  for  the  socialist  party,  for,  if  the  program  were 
carried  out,  and  if  the  ministry  were  fearless  and  uncom- 
promising in  its  support  of  the  working-class,  the  social- 
ist party  might  have  been  forced  into  a  position  where 
it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  people  to  distin- 
guish between  its  work  and  that  of  the  radicals. 

It  would  be  difficult,  however,  to  imagine  how  any 
party  could  have  met  the  situation  better  than  the  social- 
ist party.  Without  expressing  confidence  in  the  minis- 
try it  definitely  held  that  it  would  support  all  reforms  of 
a  truly  fundamental  character.  In  the  chamber  the  so- 
cialists have  pursued  a  most  skilful  course.  They  have 
forced  the  fighting.  The  ministry  has  been  prodded 
and  goaded.  Its  program,  which  now  it  almost  wishes 
to    forget,  is    placed    before  its  eyes  and  those  of  the 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  2$  I 

country  on  every  possible  occasion.  Unlike  most  op- 
position parties  the  socialists  want  to  keep  the  radical 
ministry  in  power,  and  on  one  or  two  occasions  it  would 
have  fallen  if  it  had  not  been  for  their  support  and  as- 
sistance. They  take  a  long  view,  and  see  that  nothing 
is  so  important  at  the  present  moment  as  to  prove  to  the 
French  people  that  the  radicals  will  not  carry  out  a  pro- 
gram of  fundamental  reform.  Thus  it  is  necessary  to 
keep  them  for  a  considerable  period  in  a  position  of  re- 
sponsibility so  that  they  may  be  tested  in  the  most  thor- 
ough and  conclusive  manner. 

So  long  as  radicals  are  always  in  the  opposition  (as,  for 
instance,  Hearst  and  Bryan  are  with  us)  they  appear  al- 
most as  revolutionary  as  the  socialists  themselves.  But 
now  that  the  French  socialists  are  fortunate  enough  to 
have  them  in  power,  it  only  remains  to  demonstrate  the 
impossibility  of  their  accomplishing  any  important  re- 
form. In  other  words,  it  seems  as  if  the  French  people 
are  being  conducted  through  the  last  stage  of  their  illu- 
sions. When  it  is  once  proved  that  the  radicals  will  not 
carry  out  their  promises,  it  seems  reasonable  to  think 
that  the  people  will  turn  to  the  socialists.  Even  now 
the  party  is  beginning  to  expose  the  barren  record  of 
radicalism.  Le  Socialiste  asks,  "  Where  are  we  now  .•• 
The  suppression  of  martial  law  1  Mutilated.  The 
law  about  white  lead  .-'  Stillborn.  The  nationalization 
of  the  Western  railways .''  In  danger.  The  law  about 
Sunday  closing  ?  Nerveless  and  weak.  Old-age  pen- 
sions .■*  Adjourned.  Graduated  income  tax  ?  Proposed. 
But  so  absorbed  are  the  radicals  in  fighting  the  working 
men  that  they  cannot  spare  the  time  or  effort  to  trans- 
form the  proposition  into  an  act." 

If  the  radicals  can  be  kept  in  power  for  a  few  months 


252  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

more,  and  if  they  fail,  as  they  have  failed  up  to  the  pres- 
ent, to  carry  out  a  single  one  of  their  proposed  eco- 
nomic reforms,  it  would  seem  probable  that  the  socialist 
party  alone  can  hope  to  win  the  adherence  of  an  actual 
majority  of  the  French  people.  The  situation  in  France, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  parliamentary  power  of 
socialism,  is,  therefore,  at  the  present  moment  the  most 
dramatic  in  Europe. 

In  giving  so  much  prominence  to  the  parliamentary 
power  of  socialism  in  Germany,  Italy,  England,  and 
France,  I  do  not  want  to  convey  the  impression  that  it 
is  limited  to,  or  of  exceptional  importance  in,  those 
countries.  Vandervelde  is  at  work  in  Belgium,  Victor 
Adler  in  Austria,  and  other  men  of  ability  are  at  work 
in  nearly  all  the  other  parliaments  of  Europe.  Their 
strife  against  the  established  order  is  similar  in  charac- 
ter to  that  of  the  sociaHsts  in  the  countries  I. have  men- 
tioned. They  influence  the  thought  of  their  countrymen 
to  no  less  a  degree,  and  in  some  cases  they  have  accom- 
plished more  for  the  welfare  of  the  masses  than  the 
socialists  of  France,  Italy,  or  England.  And  yet  nearly 
everywhere  the  socialist  parties  have  only  a  small  minor- 
ity in  parliament,  as  the  reader  will  see  from  the  table  on 
the  opposite  page.  In  Austria  and  Finland  at  the  mo- 
ment the  socialists  have  the  largest  representation,  and  in 
Russia,  if  the  electoral  law  permitted,  they  would  easily 
obtain  a  majority.  In  the  countries  under  review  in 
this  book,  the  tactics  and  the  immediate  ends  of  the 
party  vary  in  many  details  from  those  in  Russia  and 
other  countries.  What  I  have  given  of  the  parlia- 
mentary effort  of  the  socialists  in  certain  countries  is, 
therefore,  not  necessarily  typical  of  their  work  in  the 
others.     The   duties  of  a  party   are  necessarily   deter- 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS 


253 


mined  by  the  state  of  economic,  political,  intellectual, 
and  moral  development  that  exists  in  its  particular 
field  of  action. 


*Russia      ....     132 

socialists  out 

of  total 

of    440  representatives 

Austria    . 

■      87 

« 

« 

353 

<< 

Finland    . 

.       80 

<( 

« 

200 

« 

France     . 

52 

« 

i( 

584 

i( 

Germany 

•      43 

(( 

« 

397 

« 

England  . 

•      32 

(( 

« 

670 

(( 

fBelgium  . 

•       30 

« 

« 

166 

« 

Italy    .     . 

25 

« 

« 

508 

« 

t  Denmark 

24 

tt 

« 

114 

« 

Sweden    . 

15 

« 

« 

230 

« 

Norway   .     . 

10 

« 

(( 

117 

« 

Holland        . 

7 

« 

<i 

100 

« 

Luxemburg 

7 

<i 

« 

45 

« 

Switzerland 

2 

« 

(( 

167 

« 

Servia      .     .     . 

I 

« 

« 

160 

« 

547 

tc 

« 

4251 

« 

*  This  is  the  representation  of  the  socialists  in  the  second  Duma,  and  not  in  the 
present  one.  The  electoral  law  has  been  changed  in  such  a  wholesale  manner  that 
nearly  all  the  workers  and  peasants  have  been  disfranchised.  If  there  had  been  uni- 
versal manhood  suffrage,  a  much  larger  number  would  have  been  elected.  Nearly  all  the 
socialist  members  of  the  second  Duma  have  recently  been  sent  to  Siberia. 

t  In  Belgium  the  Labor  Party  has  also  seven  representatives  in  the  Senate,  and  in 
Denmark  the  socialists  have  four. 


A  new  phase  of  international  unity  and  solidarity 
begins  to  manifest  itself  that  should  not  pass  unmen- 
tioned.  Of  the  numberless  parties  in  the  various 
countries  the  socialists  alone  seek  to  bring  the  national 
organizations  into  international  accord.  They  have, 
therefore,  decided  to  create  an  interparliamentary  union 
for  the  purpose  of  conference,  and  in  case  of  necessity, 
of  joint  action.  The  first  congress  of  this  body  was 
held  in  London  in  July,  1906.     Very  little  notice  was 


254  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

taken  of  the  meeting,  although  nearly  every  European 
parliament  was  represented  by  one  or  more  delegates. 
Three  days  were  spent  in  this  interparliamentary  con- 
ference, which  it  was  decided  should  be  secret  because  a 
representative  of  the  Duma,  Anakine,  had  come  to  place 
before  the  congress  the  desperate  situation  that  faced 
the  Russian  socialists.  I  shall  never  forget  the  inten- 
sity of  that  memorable  gathering  while  listening  to  the 
impassioned  address  of  the  Russian  peasant.  He  was  a 
gifted  speaker,  and  although  strong  and  fearless,  he  had 
the  saddest  face  I  have  ever  seen.  In  the  course  of 
his  address,  he  said  he  had  come  to  London  despite  his 
belief  that  upon  his  return  to  Russia  he  would  be  impris- 
oned or  perhaps  secretly  murdered.  On  the  day  follow- 
ing the  congress  the  representatives  spent  the  afternoon 
on  the  estate  of  a  sympathetic  Englishman.  Tchay- 
kovsky,  now  in  prison  in  Russia,  was  there  with  Ana- 
kine. As  we  drove  along  the  lovely  lanes,  and  looked 
upon  the  smiling  hills  of  Surrey  and  Kent,  and  walked 
through  Chaucer's  Pilgrims'  Way,  the  sadness  and 
brooding  melancholy  of  this  Russian  peasant's  face  cast 
a  gloom  over  us  all,  and  for  weeks  afterward  it  haunted 
me.  His  parliamentary  duties  called  him  back  to  Rus- 
sia immediately,  and  a  few  days  later  we  saw  in  the 
papers  that  he  had  hardly  landed  from  the  boat  in  Fin- 
land before  he  was  set  upon  and  beaten  into  insensibil- 
ity by  a  band  of  thugs  employed  by  the  police. 

I  realize  in  terminating  this  chapter  that  some  of  my 
readers  may  conclude  that  the  socialists  have  abandoned 
their  revolutionary  aims  and  have  settled  down  to  a 
peaceful  policy  of  gradually  reforming  the  present  or- 
der ;  but  if  they  do  arrive  at  such  a  conclusion,  it  will 
show  an  utter  misconception  of  socialist  political  tactics. 


SOCIALISM   IN   THE   PARLIAMENTS  255 

Socialists  have  no  desire  to  pursue  the  desperate  method 
of  inciting  the  workers  to  insurrection.  They  reaUze  that 
violence  is  a  sign  of  weakness.  Increasing  influence, 
and  a  growing  assurance  that  socialism  will  eventually 
attain  complete  power,  have  encouraged  them  to  work 
with  confidence  toward  the  end  of  converting  a  majority 
of  the  nation  to  their  views.  In  parliament  they  never 
lose  sight  of  that  end,  and  Liebknecht  well  says,  "All 
legislative  measures  which  we  shall  support,  if  the  op- 
portunity is  given  us,  ought  to  have  for  their  object  to 
prove  the  fitness  of  socialism  to  serve  the  common  good." 
Following  out  that  policy,  the  socialists  are  zealous  pro- 
moters of  every  humane  measure  that  can  advance  the 
welfare  of  the  community.  Whatever  will  increase  the 
opportunities  of  working  men  for  education,  whatever 
will  give  them  leisure  to  read  and  study,  whatever  will 
assure  them  health  and  pleasant  surroundings  at  home 
and  at  work,  the  socialists  exert  their  utmost  to  obtain. 
A  humane  interest  in  the  welfare  of  all  inspires  these 
legislative  efforts  ;  but  the  reader  must  not  forget  that 
in  this  work  the  sociahsts  have  also  a  special  and  revolu- 
tionary end  in  view.  They  are  confident  that  when  the 
workers  free  themselves  from  the  conditions  which  now 
brutalize  them,  and  when  they  gain  sufficient  leisure  to 
read  and  think,  there  will  come  as  an  inevitable  result  a 
more  consistent  and  intelligent  revolt  against  the  op- 
pressive conditions  of  capitalism.  At  the  same  time 
anything  which  raises  the  standard  of  life,  morality,  and 
mentality  of  the  workers  makes  them  increasingly  fit  to 
assume  complete  control  over  industry. 

This  work  of  ameliorating  conditions  is  supplemented 
by  other  efforts  equally  revolutionary  in  their  aim.  In 
every  country  the  socialists   are  endeavoring  to  win  for 


256  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

the  political  organizations,  the  unions,  and  the  coopera- 
tives, greater  powers  of  resistance.  Toward  this  end 
they  have  already  obtained  in  many  countries  additional 
political  rights,  such  as  an  extension  of  suffrage  and  the 
right  of  free  speech  and  assembly.  For  the  unions  they 
have  endeavored  everywhere  to  obtain,  or  to  preserve 
from  reaction,  the  right  of  combination,  of  striking,  and 
of  peaceful  picketing.  They  have  rendered  it  increas- 
ingly perilous  for  the  government  to  interfere  in  indus- 
trial disputes  by  the  use  of  the  army  and  the  police. 
For  centuries  the  state  has  favored  the  interests  of  prop- 
erty as  against  the  interests  of  the  workers,  but  slowly 
the  new  governing  principle  evolves  ;  namely,  that  in  the 
conflicts  between  labor  and  capital  the  state  shall  as 
nearly  as  possible  maintain  an  attitude  of  neutrality. 
The  result  of  all  this  socialist  activity  is  the  gradual 
breaking  down  of  political  and  economic  oppression,  and 
the  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  workers  the  means  of 
their  own  emancipation. 

This  forcing  up  of  the  standard  of  life,  and  this  win- 
ning of  economic  and  political  power,  when  viewed  from 
the  socialist  standpoint,  are  essentially  revolutionary 
in  their  tendency.  They  are  determined  efforts  to 
strengthen  the  workers  in  their  struggle  against  capitalism, 
A  clergyman  recently  condemned  socialism  because,  as 
he  said,  it  looks  upon  humanity  as  a  god,  A  prominent 
socialist  answered,  "  That  is  at  least  a  higher  ideal  than 
the  one  possessed  by  present  society,  which  looks  upon 
property  as  a  god."  There  is  truth  in  both  assertions, 
and  they  roughly  explain  the  basis  of  the  conflict  now 
being  waged  between  capital  and  labor.  It  is  a  war 
a  otitrance  between  two  ideals,  and  there  is  evidence  to 
show  that  property  as  a  divinity  is  losing  much  of  its 


SOCIALISM   IN  THE   PARLIAMENTS  257 

former  prestige.  Its  influence  over  the  masses  is  no 
longer  what  it  once  was,  and  when  the  opponents  of 
socialism  come  before  a  propertyless  populace,  claiming 
to  be  the  guardians  of  private  property,  and  seek  their 
suffrages  on  that  ground,  it  creates  as  little  enthusiasm 
as  did  the  old  plea  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  at  the 
time  the  rising  democracy  put  an  end  to  autocracy. 

And  yet  that  is  the  claim  now  being  made  by  the 
radicals  in  France  and  the  liberals  in  England.  All 
private  property  is  to  them  a  sacred  thing,  an  unalterable, 
unchangeable  institution  ;  and  to  speak  of  its  evolving 
from  age  to  age,  changing  its  form  and  scope  to  fit  itself 
to  the  requirements  of  social  evolution,  is  sacrilegious. 
Of  course  socialism  attacks  only  one  form  of  private 
property,  as  the  abolitionists  attacked  only  one  ;  that  is, 
the  private  ownership  of  the  instruments  of  production. 
But  that,  of  course,  makes  socialism  none  the  less  sub- 
versive, and  the  capitalists,  realizing  the  danger,  try  to 
defend  private  property  categorically,  even  when  it  is 
most  injurious  to  the  public  welfave.  Rooted  in  the 
belief  that  private  property  must  be  maintained  at  all 
hazards,  they  cannot  evolve  from  their  own  thought  any 
method  of  ameliorating  the  social  and  industrial  evils 
which  result  from  the  domination  of  the  propertied  inter- 
ests. Nevertheless,  they  are  terrified  by  the  growing 
power  of  socialism,  and  finding  compromise  a  necessity, 
they  weakly  borrow  the  immediate  program  of  their 
opponents.  Thus  Campbell-Bannerman  in  England, 
Clemenceau  in  France,  von  Buelow  in  Germany,  and 
other  government  leaders,  find  the  only  political  course 
open  to  them  is  to  adopt  a  socialistic  legislative  policy. 
It  is  unquestionable  that  by  so  doing  they  alleviate 
somewhat  the  misery,  and  for  a  time  diminish  the  dis- 


258  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

content ;  but  their  action  is  in  deadly  conflict  with  their 
political  and  economic  faith.  They  thus  leave  them- 
selves and  their  followers  without  principles,  and  their 
parliamentary  policy  degenerates  into  a  petty  struggle 
to  save  what  they  can  in  the  face  of  an  aggressive 
opposition. 


CHAPTER   IX 

SOCIALISM     IN     ART    AND     LITERATURE 

Although,  as  we  have  seen,  modern  socialism  is  of 
very  recent  growth,  one  can  already  clearly  discern  two 
distinct  periods  in  what  may  be  called  the  literature  of 
socialism.  The  first  period  was  a  heroic  one,  corre- 
sponding nicely  with  the  unorganized  and  not  always 
intelligent  revolt  of  the  working-classes  previous  to  the 
eighties.  Nearly  all  the  great  minds  in  art  and  litera- 
ture, consciously  or  unconsciously,  translated  into  their 
work  the  spirit  of  unrest  and  blind  revolt  characteristic 
of  the  time.  Wagner  in  music ;  Millet  in  painting ; 
Turgueneff,  Grigorovitch,  Nekrassoff,  Tolstoy,  Hugo, 
Zola,  Herwegh,  Freiligrath,  Whitman,  Carlyle,  and 
Ruskin  in  literature,  to  mention  only  a  few,  were  all 
expressing  in  varied  form  the  widespread  discontent 
with  the  existing  social  order.  Matthew  Arnold,  simi- 
larly engaged  in  his  keenly  intellectual  and  passion- 
less essays,  summed  up  his  complaint  in  the  powerful 
sentence,  "Our  inequality  materializes  our  upper  class, 
vulgarizes  our  middle  class,  brutalizes  our  lower  class." 
Ruskin  came  to  the  conclusion  that  "  all  social  evils 
and  religious  errors  arise  out  of  the  pillage  of  the 
laborers  by  the  idlers."  And  in  1871  he  began 
to  write  *'  Fors "  —  letters  to  the  workmen  of  Great 
Britain  —  by  declaring :  "  For  my  own  part,  I  will  put 
up  with   this   state  of   things,  passively,  not   an    hour 

259 


260  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

longer.  I  am  not  an  unselfish  person,  nor  an  evangel- 
ical one;  I  have  no  particular  pleasure  in  doing  good; 
neither  do  I  dislike  doing  it  so  much  as  to  expect  to  be 
rewarded  for  it  in  another  world.  But  I  simply  cannot 
paint,  nor  read,  nor  look  at  minerals,  nor  do  anything 
else  that  I  like,  and  the  very  light  of  the  morning  sky, 
when  there  is  any  —  which  is  seldom,  nowadays,  near 
London  —  has  become  hateful  to  me,  because  of  the 
misery  that  I  know  of,  and  see  signs  of,  where  I  know 
it  not,  which  no  imagination  can  interpret  too  bitterly." 
Carlyle  could  not  think  of  modern  society  without 
bursting  into  rage.  The  disorganization  of  labor;  the 
spectacle  of  society  covering  the  fair  face  of  England 
with  filthy  furnaces  and  boundless  slums ;  the  silly 
commonplaces  of  political  economy,  which  he  called 
"the  dismal  science";  the  anarchy  in  industry  and 
commerce,  led  him  to  write  his  bitter  political  satires 
that  seethe  with  brimstone  and  fire.  Hugo,  in  France, 
was  writing  his  immense  drama  of  modern  society, 
picturing  the  life  of  that  outcast  saint  whom  the  modern 
world  could  not  understand,  and  perforce  must  crucify. 
Whitman,  in  America,  was  singing  his  great  songs  of 
Democracy.  Tolstoy  was  writing  two  novels  :  one  pic- 
turing the  horrors  of  war,  the  other  the  foibles  and 
vanities  of  Russian  society.  Turgueneff  was  watching 
the  rising  revolt  among  the  masses,  and  becoming 
almost  a  guiding  force  in  its  progress  by  his  pitiless 
analysis  of  the  character  of  its  leaders.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  find  in  any  other  period  of  recent  history 
men  equal  in  power  to  these  master  minds,  all  of  them 
struggling  to  voice  the  rising  revolt,  and  yet  incapable 
of  discerning  or  of  adequately  expressing  the  new  ideal- 
ism coming  to  birth. 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART   AND   LITERATURE  26 1 

Amidst  the  storms  then  raging  over  Europe  there 
was  something  magnificent  in  the  Titanic  labors  of 
these  men.  Analyzing  the  warring  elements,  describ- 
ing the  discord,  lamenting  the  carnage,  they  sought 
for  some  guiding  principle,  but  in  vain ;  they  could  only 
voice  the  spirit  of  their  restless,  questioning,  dissatisfied 
age.  They  were  the  prophets,  rather  than  the  teachers, 
of  the  new  time  of  which  they  saw  but  the  dawn.  "  I 
know  not  if  I  deserve,"  said  Heine,  "  that  a  laurel-wreath 
should  one  day  be  laid  on  my  coffin.  Poetry,  dearly  as 
I  have  loved  it,  has  always  been  to  me  but  a  divine 
plaything.  I  have  never  attached  any  great  value  to 
poetical  fame ;  and  I  trouble  myself  very  little  whether 
people  praise  my  verses  or  blame  them.  But  lay  on 
my  coffin  a  sivord ;  for  I  was  a  brave  soldier  in  the 
Liberation  War  of  humanity."  The  same  wish  might 
have  been  expressed  by  all  these  men,  for  without  ex- 
ception they  placed  higher  than  their  art  their  work  in 
the  service  of  humanity. 

It  is  not  a  mere  coincidence  that  during  the  same 
period  another  group  of  great  minds  was  trying  to 
form  an  International  Working  Men's  Association. 
Marx,  Engels,  Bakounine,  de  Paepe,  Mazzini,  Pro- 
fessor Beesley,  were  all  minds  of  a  high  order,  and 
all  were  connected  with  the  International  at  some 
time  in  its  history.  It  represented  in  active  life  what 
the  other  group  represented  in  art  and  literature.  Both 
groups  felt  instinctively  the  modern  revolt;  both  saw 
the  evils  of  our  economic  system  ;  both  recoiled  from 
the  anarchy  in  society,  the  bitter  poverty  of  the  many, 
the  arrogant  dominance  of  the  few.  But  the  Interna- 
tionahsts,  like  the  artists  and  writers,  could  arrive  at  no 
common  program ;  and,  after  a  few  years  of  troubled 


262  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

existence,  their  organization  broke  into  dissension  and 
discord,  which  was  also  characteristic  of  the  time.  With 
the  exception  of  Marx  and  Engels,  much  of  the  spirit 
of  the  International  was  destructive  and  nihilist  rather 
than  constructive  and  creative,  with  the  result  that  it 
merely  incited  the  masses  to  blind  and  futile  revolt 
instead  of  organized  and  constructive  action.  The  fact 
is,  all  these  men  were  living  in  the  eventide  of  a  great 
historical  epoch.  It  was  Carlyle  who  voiced  the  vague, 
despondent  spirit  of  these  forerunners  of  modern  social- 
ism when  he  said,  "  There  must  be  a  new  world  if  there 
is  to  be  any  at  all." 

The  eighties  mark  a  new  period  in  the  literature  as 
well  as  in  the  politics  of  socialism.  There  began  to 
appear  at  that  time  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe  a  new 
force.  There  was  the  same  revolt  against  the  anarchy 
of  society,  against  poverty  and  riches,  but  with  it  there 
came  a  master  passion  which  differed  fundamentally 
from  the  vague  democratic  yearnings  of  the  older  men, 
Carlyle,  as  well  as  the  others,  had  noticed  the  growing 
proletariat,  but  he  no  more  than  they  understood  the 
historic  role  they  were  destined  to  play.  Arnold  said: 
"  Our  present  social  organization  has  been  an  appointed 
stage  in  our  growth  ;  it  has  been  of  good  use,  and  has 
enabled  us  to  do  great  things.  But  the  use  is  at  an  end, 
and  the  stage  is  over."  Nearly  all  the  older  men  were 
of  a  similar  view.  They  felt  that  society  was  on  the 
eve  of  new  developments,  but  of  these  their  thought 
was  vague  and  uncertain.  In  general  their  attitude  was 
destructive  and  negative  ;  more  in  accord  with  Bakounine 
than  with  Marx,  who  was  coming  to  be  the  dominant 
spirit  in  the  rising  movement. 

Socialism  was  beginning  to  manifest  itself  in  definite 


SOCIALISM    IN  ART  AND   LITERATURE  263 

form  in  Germany,  in  France,  in  Belgium,  and  even  in 
England.  It  was  no  longer  a  mere  revolt,  and  as  an  or- 
ganized and  disciplined  movement  it  began  to  play  an 
important  role  in  the  political  life  of  Europe.  It  was 
hardly  to  be  expected  that  the  older  men  would  fully 
understand  the  new  movement,  and  it  was  but  natural 
that  in  the  main  it  was  the  younger  men  in  literature 
and  art  who  gave  it  expression.  In  any  case  nothing 
could  be  more  remarkable  than  the  rapid  change  follow- 
ing the  seventies.  After  the  vague  democratic  yearn- 
ings and  the  purely  destructive  criticism  of  the  older 
generation,  succeeded  a  gospel  that  dominated  men  of 
widely  different  talents;  as,  for  instance :  William  Morris, 
Anatole  France,  Bernard  Shaw,  Maurice  Maeterlinck, 
Alexander  Kielland,  Maxim  Gorky,  H.  G.  Wells,  Gio- 
vanni Verga,  Gerhart  Hauptmann,  Edmondo  de  Amicis; 
the  scientists,  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  Zanarelli,  Lom- 
broso.  Grant  Allen,  Enrico  Ferri ;  the  poets,  Giovanni 
Pascoli,  Ada  Negri,  Edward  Carpenter  ;  and  the  artists, 
Walter  Crane,  Steinlen,  and  van  Biesbroeck.  Like  the 
older  men  they  too  are  in  revolt.  And  yet  that  which 
had  begun  to  take  place  among  the  disinherited,  and  to 
assume  definite  and  constructive  form,  found  these  and 
other  men  of  talent  ready  to  give  it  expression  in  paint- 
ing, in  sculpture,  in  music,  and  in  literature.* 

*  It  is  a  matter  for  regret  that  I  can  merely  mention  the  socialist  poets 
Edward  Carpenter,  of  England;  Graf,  Guerrini,  and  Pascoli  of  Italy;  and 
Mrs.  Roland  Holtz,  of  Holland,  whose  poems  are  frequently  printed  in  so- 
cialist papers  as  the  songs  of  the  movement.  Nor  can  I  more  than  mention 
Maurice  Maeterlinck,  John  Galsworthy.Granville  Barker,  and  Richard  White- 
ing,  and  the  artists  who  make  possible  such  first-rate  comical  and  satirical 
socialist  journals  as  "  L'Assiette  au  Beurre,"  "  L'Asino,"  and  "  Der  Wahre 
Jacob."  Walter  Crane,  the  English,  and  Steinlen,  Grandjouan,  Delannoy, 
and  Naudin,  the   French  artists,  lavish   their  great  talents  upon  socialist 


264  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

Whether  we  take  the  work  of  the  forerunners  of  modern 
socialism,  or  that  of  the  present  exponents,  we  find  the 
same  methods  used  to  interpret  the  social  spirit.  Both 
depict  the  Hfe  of  the  peasant  and  the  industrial  worker, 
interpreting  the  soul  of  the  people  in  its  patient  and 
quiet  dignity.  Both  portray  the  evils  of  modern  society 
by  problem  plays  and  novels.  Both  struggle  to  give  ex- 
pression to  the  quest  for  the  ideal  whether  in  the  indi- 
vidual or  in  social  organization.  And  nearly  all  the 
writers  leave  at  times  the  field  of  art  to  issue  revolution- 
ary pamphlets  upon  economics  and  politics. 

Perhaps  the  highest  social  use  of  Hterature  is  in  awak- 
ening a  sympathetic  understanding  between  different 
races  or  different  classes  of  the  same  race.  In  the  days 
of  slavery,  when  whites  looked  upon  blacks  almost  as 
beasts  devoid  of  human  sentiment,  the  work  of  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe  proved  a  revelation,  and  aroused  in  all 
civilized  countries  profound  human  sympathy.  What- 
ever defects  it  may  have  as  a  work  of  art,  "  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  "  made  the  thought  of  slavery  intolerable. 
It  has  always  been  easy  for  men  to  believe  that  they  dif- 
fer from  other  men,  and  that  color,  race,  or  nationality, 

propaganda.  In  the  expository  literature  of  socialism,  the  Fabian  tracts 
and  essays  rank  high.  Bernard  Shaw's  work  stands  out  from  among  the 
others,  and  perhaps  no  other  modern  writer  is  capable  of  treating  econom- 
ics in  so  interesting  a  manner.  Anatole  France's  "  Monsieur  Bergeret 
a  Paris,"  and  H.  G.  Wells'  "The  Misery  of  Boots,"  are  pure  literature; 
and  while  the  work  of  Robert  Blatchford  is  largely  of  a  propagandist 
nature,  he  is  richly  endowed  with  that  greatest  gift  of  the  artist,  the 
power  of  seeing  things  and  of  making  others  see  them. 

Many  well-known  American  writers  and  artists  also  feel  the  so- 
cialist impulse.  William  Dean  Howells,  Edwin  Markham,  Finley  Peter 
Dunne,  Jack  London,  and  Upton  Sinclair  are  among  the  best  known, 
although  nearly  all  of  the  younger  men  are  coming  under  the  influence 
of  socialist  thought. 


SOCIALISM   IN  ART  AND   LITERATURE  265 

religion,  blood,  or  riches,  almost  any  distinctive  thing, 
separates  them  from  the  rest  of  human  kind,  and  creates 
a  gulf  between  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  superior 
and  inferior  people.  Between  races  such  feelings  are 
more  easily  explained  ;  although  when  such  books  are 
read  as  Du  Bois'  "The  Souls  of  Black  Folk,"  unfortu- 
nately too  little  known,  the  feeling  of  superiority  is  apt 
to  give  place  to  a  humiliating  sense  of  shame.  But 
among  people  of  the  same  race  such  feeling  is  less 
readily  understood ;  and  yet  it  is  almost  as  common. 
The  slaves  of  our  country  were  of  a  different  race  from 
their  masters ;  but  the  serfs  of  Russia  were  of  the  same 
race  and  creed,  the  same  language  and  tradition,  as  the 
upper  class.  And  yet  Kropotkin  says :  "  Human  feel- 
ings were  not  recognized,  not  even  suspected  in  serfs, 
and  when  Turgueneff  pubHshed  his  little  story  of  '  Mumu,' 
and  Grigorovitch  began  to  issue  his  thrilling  novels,  in 
which  he  made  his  readers  weep  over  the  misfortunes 
of  serfs,  it  was  to  a  great  number  of  persons  a  startling 
revelation.  *  They  love  just  as  we  do;  is  it  possible  .-' ' 
exclaimed  the  sentimental  ladies." 

A  similar  effort  to  that  of  the  above-mentioned  writers 
is  made  by  those  who  endeavor  to  picture  the  suffering 
grandeur  of  the  toiling  masses  of  field  or  factory.  To 
two  Belgians,  one  a  painter,  the  other  a  sculptor,  we  are 
indebted  for  some  of  the  most  affecting  pictures  of  misery 
that  art  has  given  us.  Charles  Degroux  belongs  to  the 
earlier  period,  but  his  pictures  serve  even  to-day  to  mould 
sociahst  sentiment.  His  canvases  are  tragic.  His 
figures  are  broken  by  the  burdens  of  misery,  and  a  spirit 
of  brooding  sorrow  and  inevitable  misfortune  pervades 
his  work.  The  other  Belgian,  van  Biesbroeck,  is  a 
young  man,  who  after  achieving  an  excellent  reputation 


266  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

throughout  Europe  came  back  to  his  native  town  of 
Ghent  at  the  request  of  the  socialists.  They  have  built 
him  and  his  father  a  studio,  and  assure  to  them  what 
they  require ;  and  these  two  work  together  to  make 
beautiful  the  various  cooperative  establishments  owned 
by  the  socialists.  The  older  van  Biesbroeck  is  a  philos- 
opher ;  the  younger,  an  artist  of  exceptional  talent.  His 
portraits  of  the  workers  of  Ghent  will  become  historic, 
representing  to  future  ages  the  barbarism  of  modern  in- 
dustrial society.  His  men,  women,  and  children  labor 
and  mourn.  They  are  superb  figures,  forcibly  drawn, 
wonderfully  chiselled,  with  the  power  to  evoke  precious 
and  inexpressible  emotions  of  sympathy  and  comrade- 
ship. Resembling  Degroux  in  some  ways,  van  Bies- 
broeck understands  better  the  heart,  and  knows  how  to 
interpret  in  human  terms  the  meaning  of  all  the  crushing 
burdens  borne  by  those  who  labor.  You  see  sympathy 
in  all  his  work,  —  the  sympathy  almost  of  a  mother  for 
her  child ;  and  yet  how  powerful  the  hnes,  how  firm 
and  sturdy  the  figures. 

Millet  and  Meunier  have,  of  course,  done  an  even 
greater  work  in  picturing  the  soul  of  the  people.  They 
meet  humanity  at  a  higher  level  than  Degroux  or  even 
van  Biesbroeck,  and  yet  it  is  not  often  possible  to  find 
in  their  work  the  same  sympathy  that  pervades  the 
work  of  the  latter.  Millet  sometimes  painted  a  brutish 
form  without  inteUigence  or  spirituality,  such  as  "  The 
Man  with  the  Hoe";  but  his  greatest  work  was  to  inter- 
pret the  peasant  full  of  elemental,  primordial  force. 
To  see  the  superb  action  of  "  The  Sower,"  the  quiet 
power  and  skill  of  "The  Man  spreading  Manure,"  to 
come  across  that  lovely  landscape  with  "The  Glean- 
ers "  at  work  in   the  foreground,  to  grasp  the  infinite 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND    LITERATURE  267 

sweetness  of  those  uncertain  "First  Steps,"  and  the 
glorious  spirit  of  paternity  expressed  in  the  affectionate 
outstretched  arms  of  the  father,  or  to  incUne  the  head 
with  those  two  fine  figures  in  "The  Angelas,"  is  to  come 
at  one  mighty  sweep  into  perfect  sympathy  with  these 
patient  bearers  of  hfe's  burdens. 

Meunier  in  sculpture  did  for  the  industrial  workers 
what  Millet  in  painting  did  for  the  peasant.  Labor  had 
a  strange  and  overpowering  fascination  for  Meunier, 
and  he  used  to  sit  for  hours  in  wonder  and  admiration, 
watching  the  turmoil  of  the  docks  in  Antwerp.  In  the 
black  country  he  would  lose  himself  in  a  mass  of  miners 
rushing  home  from  their  work  or  watch  at  night  su- 
perb figures  before  the  flaring  furnaces.  In  Meunier's 
sketches  one  is  given  some  idea  of  how  black  and  sinis- 
ter he  conceived  modern  industry  to  be,  and  at  times  his 
work  is  pervaded  with  a  pathos  that  almost  unnerves  one; 
but  the  feeling  is  rarely  dominant.  He  sometimes  saw 
among  the  workers  of  Belgium  a  spent  toiler,  but  none 
the  less  superb.  I  know  of  nothing  in  sculpture  that 
seems  to  me  more  god-like  than  the  head  which  he 
calls  "Antwerp,"  symbolizing  Labor;  for  that  is  what 
Antwerp  meant  to  him.  It  is  quiet,  yet  it  breathes  of 
action.  There  is  not  that  refinement  of  the  Greek 
which  shows  softness  and  weakness ;  there  is  no  super- 
fluous flesh.  It  is  the  face  of  a  conqueror  obeying  a 
cosmic  instinct ;  the  symbol  of  the  indomitable  spirit  of 
Labor  which  creates  from  the  raw  materials  of  hill  and 
valley  the  necessary  products  of  civilized  life.  Most  of 
Meunier's  work  was  devoted  to  portraits  of  peasants, 
miners,  puddlers,  glass  workers,  dockers,  and  laborers.* 

*  A  striking  tribute  has  recently  been  paid  Meunier  by  the  dockers  of 
Genoa,  who  have  purchased  his  "  Le  Debardeur  "  from  their  union  funds. 


268  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

It  was  the  faithful  effort  to  picture  the  lives  of  the  men, 
women,  and  children  of  toil.  The  best  examples  of  his 
art  are  in  Brussels,  and  nowhere  could  they  be  more 
appropriately  found  or  their  teaching  be  more  necessary. 
Belgium  is  the  workshop  of  Europe,  and  it  is  well  to 
have  there  these  figures  typifying  Labor  the  Conqueror, 
a  prophecy  of  what  shall  one  day  arrive. 

Grigorovitch  and  Turgueneff  did  much  to  acquaint  the 
intellectuals  of  Russia  with  peasant  life,  and  Gorky, 
during  the  last  ten  years,  has  done  remarkable  work  in 
the  same  direction.  Gorky  is  a  rebel ;  not  as  many 
writers  are,  in  the  library  only.  He  is  an  active,  con- 
spiring revolutionist ;  in  the  open  when  possible,  under- 
ground when  necessary.  When  you  have  once  seen 
Gorky,  you  understand  the  source  of  his  power.  His 
eyes — they  make  one  think  of  high-power  searchlights 
—  have  a  force  of  vision  which  penetrates  into  the  inner 
meaning  of  things.  Life  cannot  deceive  Gorky,  and  if 
one  reads  "  Malva,"  "Tchelkache,"  the  "Ex-men,"  or 
"Twenty-six  and  One,"  —  those  searching  short  stories  in 
which  Gorky  is  at  his  best,  —  and  thinks  them  overdrawn, 
he  does  not  know  the  life  of  the  abyss.  Gorky's  tramps 
and  outcasts  are  never  completely  lost  or  vanquished. 
They  too  are  idealists  and  rebels,  as  are  most  Russians 
of  the  working-class.  Although  too  broken  in  body 
to  be  effective,  there  is  hardly  one  whose  spirit  is 
unworthy  of  our  admiration.  His  pictures  of  lodging- 
house  and  slum,  of  factory  and  tenement,  are  no  less 
wonderful  than  those  appealing  landscapes  which  so 
often  form  the  background  in  his  masterly  pictures 
of  Russian  life.  In  his  plays  and  novels  even  the 
most  miserable  of  his  characters  have  the  instincts 
of  man  and  the  fire  of   rebellion.     As   with  Meunier, 


SOCIALISM   IN  ART  AND   LITERATURE  269 

one  always  feels  when  reading  Gorky  that  however  ad- 
verse the  conditions,  and  however  terrible  the  oppres- 
sion, the  spirit  of  man  is  unconquerable. 

It  is  to  Giovanni  Verga  that  we  must  go  to  find 
pictures  of  Italian  life  comparable  to  those  that  Gorky 
has  drawn  of  Russian  life.  In  "The  House  by  the 
Medlar  Tree"  we  are  shown  the  lowest  misery,  that  of  a 
Sicilian  village.  With  powerful  realism  and  infinite 
detail  Verga  portrays  the  peasants,  the  fisher  folk,  the 
toilers  crushed  under  their  burdens,  and  the  vanquished 
wrecks ;  and  above  these  unfortunates,  the  political, 
social,  and  rehgious  parasites  that  prey  upon  ignorance 
and  helplessness.  In  "  Master  Don  Gesualdo "  he 
pictures  the  middle-class  provincial ;  in  "  The  Duchess 
of  Leyra,"  the  silly  vanities  of  the  upper  class;  in  a 
later  book,  the  political  corruption  and  petty  intrigue  so 
prevalent  in  Italian  life  ;  and  at  last  he  personifies  in 
"  The  Man  of  Lusso  "  all  the  social  and  political  vices 
that  are  crushing  the  Italian  people.  He  is  powerful, 
but  his  lines  are  often  hard  and  his  realism  without 
grace.  In  some  respects  he  is  more  like  Zola-  than 
Gorky,  for  his  sordid,  ghastly  pictures  of  misery  are  too 
often  unaccompanied  with  that  sympathy  which  one 
notes  in  the  work  of  all  Russians. 

Matilde  Serao  and  Ada  Negri  are  two  remarkable 
Italian  women, — one  a  novelist,  the  other  a  poet, — 
both  expressing  the  same  revolt  and  picturing,  each  in 
her  own  effective  way,  the  evils  of  modern  society. 
Matilde  Serao's  "  II  Ventre  di  Napoli,"  say  the  authors  of 
"  Italy  To-day,"  is  "  a  passionate  appeal,  straight  from  a 
woman's  heart,  to  the  rulers  of  Italy,  pleading  that  no 
mere  '  gutting '  of  Naples  by  a  few  new  streets  can  avail 
aught  in  healing  the  terrible  social  and  economic  miseries 


2/0  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

of  her  people.  Few  books  move  the  reader  more  than 
this  little  volume  of  a  hundred  pages,  telling  of  the 
moral  and  physical  diseases  that  lie  festering  beneath 
the  fair  sky  and  picturesque  beauty  of  this  metropohs 
of  the  South  —  the  gross,  half-pagan  superstition,  the 
universal  lust  for  gambling,  the  poverty,  the  squalor ; 
yet  withal  a  people  of  quick  intelHgence,  patient  of  toil, 
naturally  gentle,  with  an  inbred  love  of  music  and 
color.  Let  those  who  attempt  to  indulge  a  facile  indig- 
nation at  the  more  obvious  vices  and  darker  features  of 
Neapolitan  life  turn  to  the  last  chapter  of  this  book,  and 
learn  somewhat  of  the  exquisite  refinement  of  its  charity, 
the  inexhaustible  springs  of  human  pity  and  neigh- 
borly love,  that  sweeten  the  lives  of  this  much-maligned 
people,  and  make  up  a  daily  martyrdom  of  incalculable 
self-sacrifice." 

Ada  Negri  is  a  product  of  the  poor,  and  her  bread 
was  earned  in  one  of  the  most  miserable  of  Italian 
professions,  that  of  schoolmistress.  Her  mother  was  a 
factory  hand,  and  she  never  knew  her  father.  In  the 
early  nineties  there  first  appeared  some  of  her  extraordi- 
nary poems.  To  quote  again,  "  It  is  difiicult  to  give  the 
reader  who  is  unfamiliar  with  the  originals  an  adequate 
conception  of  the  concentrated  passion,  the  nervous 
energy,  that  quiver  in  every  fibre  of  this  frail,  solitary 
daughter  of  the  people  athirst  for  love  and  social  justice 
and  beauty.  Wielding  a  lash  that  seems  knotted  with 
scorn,  she  scourges  the  dominant  classes  of  society.  .  .  . 
As  she  broods  over  her  fate,  the  pale  figure  of  Ill-fortune 
by  her  bedside  claims  her,  yet  bids  her  remember  that 
the  sun  of  glory  illumines  those  who  labor  in  blood  and 
tears  ;  that  sorrow  gives  wings  to  the  ideal ;  that  victory 
is  for  those  who  have  brave  hearts  and  fight  on.     An 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND   LITERATURE  2/1 

'enigma  of  hatred  and  love,'  she  weeps  with  pity  for  the 
ill-fed  in  her  class  of  eighty  children ;  she  cannot  look 
upon  a  poor,  ragged,  shoeless  street  arab,  and  think  of 
his  probable  fate,  without  yearning  to  clasp  him  to  her 
breast  in  a  supreme  embrace  of  pity  and  sorrow.  She 
hears  the  infinite  hordes  of  toilers  advancing  with  a 
noise  of  thunder,  in  serried  ranks,  bareheaded,  with 
fevered  eyes ;  from  fireless  hearths  and  sleepless  beds, 
from  alley  and  hovel,  they  press  upon  her ;  she  feels 
their  hoarse  breath  on  her  cheeks.  She  gives  the  pity 
they  ask,  but  mingles  it  with  fierce  indignation.  In 
*  Tempeste'  she  tells  of  the  sacrifice  and  tragedies  of  the 
poor  —  the  workless,  the  ejected,  the  dead  and  wounded 
of  the  mine,  the  victims  of  machinery." 

In  contrast  to  the  work  of  this  fiery  and  bitter  Italian 
is  that  exquisite  little  story  of  Anatole  France  —  "  Crain- 
quebille."  It  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  modern 
literature,  this  story  of  a  Parisian  pushcart  pedler.  To 
come  close  to  the  emotions  agitating  this  poor  soul,  to 
realize  how  little  the  busy  turmoil  of  to-day  takes  account 
of  its  simple  wonder,  to  see  its  hope  and  pride  crushed 
by  the  brutal  methods  of  police  administration,  is  to 
awaken  in  a  new  and  powerful  way  to  the  almost  uni- 
versal and  ruthless  disregard  for  the  weak  and  defence- 
less. As  we  go  through  this  simple  annal  we  feel  a 
growing  sense  of  comradeship  with  the  old  man,  and  we 
realize  that  all  about  us,  in  the  poorest  and  meanest  of 
these  human  souls  that  touch  our  elbows,  there  exists 
something  that  is  infinitely  sweet  and  precious.  By  the 
side  of  "  Crainquebille  "  belongs  that  prose  poem  of  Leo 
Tolstoy,"  Where  Love  is,  there  God  is  also,"  the  story  of 
Martuin  Avdyeitch,  the  sweet  old  shoemaker  living  in 
his  cellar-dwelling  —  a  story  which  takes  us  for  a  pre- 


272  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

clous  and  peaceful  half-hour  among  homely  and  simple 
lives  that  the  world  knows  not. 

Closely  related  to  the  portrayal  of  these  types  of  the 
people  is  the  work  of  the  various  writers  who  have 
interpreted  the  leaders  of  the  revolt.  The  two  novels, 
"  Tragic  Comedians  "  and  "  Vittoria,"  by  George  Mere- 
dith, centre  about  the  lives  of  Ferdinand  Lassalle  and 
Mazzini.  Both  leaders  of  revolutionary  movements, 
they  become  to  Meredith  material  for  two  extraordinary 
psychological  and  social  studies.  And  yet,  interesting 
as  they  are,  they  hardly  rank  with  the  monumental  work 
of  Turgueneff,  the  Russian.  Turgueneff  was  a  revolu- 
tionist, who  in  his  youth  assisted  Herzen  in  editing  a 
revolutionary  paper,  and  who  through  his  entire  life 
was  the  standard-bearer  of  Liberal  Russia.  "  He  never 
preaches  any  doctrine  whatever,"  says  Stepniak,  "  but 
gives  us,  with  an  unimpeachable,  artistic  objectiveness, 
the  living  men  and  women  in  whom  certain  ideas,  doc- 
trines, and  aspirations  were  embodied.  And  he  never 
evolves  these  ideas  and  doctrines  from  his  inner  con- 
sciousness, but  takes  them  from  real  life,  catching  with 
his  unfailing  artistic  instinct  an  incipient  movement  just 
at  the  moment  when  it  was  to  become  a  historic  feature 
of  the  time.  Thus  his  novels  are  a  sort  of  artistic 
epitome  of  the  intellectual  history  of  modern  Russia, 
and  also  a  powerful  instrument  of  her  intellectual  prog- 
ress." 

In  six  great  novels  Turgueneff  traces  in  a  series  of 
types  the  intellectual  currents  running  through  Russian 
life  from  the  forties  through  the  seventies.  Rudin,  one 
of  his  most  striking  characters,  is  a  man  of  the  forties, 
under  the  ferocious  despotism  of  Nicholas  I.  He  is 
fascinating  from  the  moment  you  meet  him,  and  amazes 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND   LITERATURE  273 

all  by  his  intellectual  audacity.  His  eloquence,  range 
of  knowledge,  and  popular  sympathies  arouse  the  en- 
thusiasm of  all  who  know  him.  But  that  is  the  end. 
Brilliant  and  fertile  in  intellect,  he  is  altogether  barren 
in  action.  He  is  an  intellectual  vagrant,  turning  from 
one  thing  to  another,  incapable  of  anything  useful  or 
practical.  At  the  end,  hungry,  homeless,  and  friendless, 
he  dies  on  the  barricades  in  Paris,  during  the  revolu- 
tion of  1848.  In  a  second  volume,  "The  Nobleman's 
Retreat,"  we  have  Lavretsky,  who  has  the  ideahsm  of 
Rudin  with  will-power  added  ;  but  his  plans  for  practical 
activity  are  shattered  by  an  unfriendly  environment 
and  a  hapless  marriage.  In  his  next  volume,  "  On  the 
Eve,"  pubHshed  1859,  he  develops  in  "Helen"  a  true 
type  of  the  Russian  young  woman  then  beginning  to 
join  in  all  the  movements  for  Russian  freedom.  Kro- 
potkin  says,  "  She  is  the  woman  who  conquered  her  right 
to  knowledge,  totally  reformed  the  education  of  chil- 
dren, fought  for  the  liberation  of  the  toiling  masses, 
endured  unbroken  in  the  snows  and  jails  of  Siberia, 
died  if  necessary  on  the  scaffold,  and  at  the  present 
moment  continues  with  unabating  energy  the  same 
struggle." 

In  the  next  novel,  "Fathers  and  Sons,"  published 
1862,  we  have  the  nihilist  type  in  Bazaroff,  perhaps  the 
strongest  character  in  Turgueneff's  novels.  He  is 
rough,  fearless,  absolutely  sincere,  denying  all  author- 
ity, and  accepting  nothing  unproved.  He  is  rationalist 
and  revolutionist.  The  skilful  artistic  contrast  which 
Turgueneff  works  into  the  book  in  the  person  of  the 
smug,  brainless  Peter  Petrovitch  is  dramatic.  The 
latter  represents  all  that  Bazaroff  detests  ;  the  foolish 
vanities   of   life,    silly   superstition,   personal   elegance, 


2/4  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

conformity  to  all  conventions.  A  storm  of  protest 
greeted  the  appearance  of  this  powerful  novel.  The 
youth  whose  type  Turgueneff  was  seeking  to  portray 
in  Bazaroff  were  indignant,  and  thought  they  saw  a 
desire  to  caricature  their  ideal.  But  despite  the  rude- 
ness of  Bazaroff,  Turgueneff  loved  him  for  his  truth, 
sincerity,  and  courage,  and  the  indignation  of  the 
advanced  young  liberals  so  affected  Turgueneff  that 
he  contemplated  for  a  time  giving  up  literature  alto- 
gether. In  his  next  novel,  "  Smoke,"  written  in  1867, 
he  voices  a  spirit  of  despair,  and  pictures  the  hollow 
vanities  of  the  handful  of  bureaucratic  despots  then 
ruling  the  destinies  of  the  mighty  Russian  empire. 
In  "  Virgin  Soil,"  the  last  of  the  series,  he  pictures 
that  extraordinary  movement  of  the  seventies,  "  To  the 
People."  The  Russian  youth  of  intellect  and  con- 
science were  at  the  time  casting  aside  all  thought  of 
personal  advancement,  social  position,  and  ease,  to 
carry  the  revolutionary  propaganda  into  the  villages 
of  Russia.  The  historic  circle  Tchaykovsky  was  then 
meeting  in  St.  Petersburg,  with  Kropotkin,  Stepniak, 
and  a  host  of  other  brilliant  and  capable  young  men 
and  women,  all  of  whom  are  now  dead  or  in  exile. 
The  series  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  literature, 
picturing  from  decade  to  decade  the  variation  in  the 
revolutionary  ferment,  and  serving  in  no  inconsiderable 
degree  to  teach  the  new  generation  saner  lines  of  ac- 
tion and  nobler  paths  of  sacrifice. 

Much  of  the  literature  and  art  of  socialism  is  devoted 
to  the  portrayal  of  the  evils  of  society.  The  individual 
seems  lost  amid  the  play  of  social  forces,  while  the 
crushing  power  of  evil  conditions  is  shown  in  all  its 
magnitude.     There  are  factory  hells  and  slums,  social 


SOCIALISM   IN  ART  AND   LITERATURE  2/5 

vices  and  hideous  industrial  wrongs,  which  ruin  and 
destroy  what  is  good  and  precious  in  man.  Among 
present-day  writers  perhaps  no  one  has  equalled  Emile 
Zola  in  describing  the  devastating  power  of  these  re- 
lentless inevitable  social  forces.  However  much  he 
may  at  times  revolt  us,  we  must  admit  that  Zola  at- 
tempted a  laudable  and  gigantic  task  in  the  twenty 
volumes  pubHshed  under  the  general  title,  "  Rougon 
Macquart."  He  could  not  tolerate  the  silly  romanti- 
cism of  the  empire,  and  he  determined  to  picture  with 
pitiless  realism  the  whole  of  contemporary  society.  In 
these  volumes  the  life  of  all  France  passes  before  the 
reader.  The  descriptions  of  the  vile  degradations  into 
which  man  falls  are  terribly  realistic,  and  embrace  a 
record  of  modern  life  so  revolting  as  almost  to  choke 
and  stifle  one.  In  "  L'Assommoir  "  Zola  takes  us  into 
the  depths,  among  intoxicated  wrecks  and  hopeless 
outcasts.  He  leaves  no  vice  unspoken,  no  horror  un- 
described.  In  "  Germinal "  we  have  a  picture  of  the 
mines,  and  the  movement  of  dark  forms  in  the  bowels 
of  the  earth  as  they  struggle  toward  the  light.  Fol- 
lowing this  great  series,  Zola  wrote  three  volumes, 
"  Lourdes,"  "  Rome,"  and  "  Paris,"  to  show  the  decay 
of  superstition  and  the  rise  of  rationalism.  In  the  latter 
he  seemed  to  have  lost  confidence  in  any  efforts  for  the 
regeneration  of  society,  except  the  destructive  attempts 
of  the  anarchists  and  the  constructive  work  of  science. 
Not  content  with  picturing  life  as  he  saw  it,  he  then 
wrote  four  gospels  to  convey  to  the  world  his  idea  of 
social  salvation,  the  last  volume  remaining  unfinished 
at  his  death.  One  of  the  four  is  "  Le  Travail,"  and  in 
that  he  finds  his  inspiration.  Labor,  —  the  God  of 
humanity ;  the  glorious  creator ;  the  serene  power  that 


276  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

shapes  the  destiny  of  man,  —  he  finds  joyless,  unknown, 
degraded,  enslaved,  crucified.  It  must  be  resurrected, 
and  made  free,  and  holy,  and  joyful,  and  beautiful. 
And  he  traces  the  outlines  of  a  new  social  order  arising 
through  the  associated  efforts  of  the  workers. 

There  is  much  that  is  similar  to  the  work  of  Zola  in 
the  writings  of  nearly  all  of  the  younger  men  of  our 
generation.  The  literature  of  social  problems  repre- 
sents perhaps  the  main  current  in  the  literary  effort 
of  the  last  twenty  years.  Realism  is  in  full  swing 
throughout  Europe.  In  the  Balkan  States  there  is  a 
school  of  writers,  several  of  whom  have  Zola's  vivid 
descriptive  power,  combined  with  a  reverential  regard 
for  the  spiritual  character  of  man  that  reminds  one  of 
Millet.  Nearly  all  the  younger  men  work  with  a 
conscious  social  purpose,  and  they  see  more  clearly 
than  Zola  did  through  the  bewildering  chaos  of  con- 
temporary life.  Many  of  them  owe  their  impulse 
directly  to  the  socialist  movement,  and  labor  to  ac- 
centuate in  art  the  inspiration  that  comes  from  social 
democracy.  Among  the  most  noteworthy  of  the  writers 
of  the  north  is  Alexander  Kielland,  the  Norwegian. 
He  closely  approaches  Zola  in  "  The  Laboring  People," 
and  in  "  Elsie  "  and  in  other  short  stories  and  novels 
he  gives  evidence  of  possessing  a  profound  social 
philosophy. 

Among  Englishmen,  the  late  George  Gissing  ap- 
proached the  realism  of  the  Frenchman.  He  says  in 
one  of  his  novels  :  "  Art  nowadays  must  be  the  mouth- 
piece of  misery,  for  misery  is  the  keynote  of  modern 
life."  In  one  powerful  story,  "  New  Grub  Street,"  he 
traces  the  slow  ruin  by  overwork,  hunger,  and  care,  of 
every  sweet  and  ineffable  gift  of  spiritual  and  artistic 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART   AND   LITERATURE  277 

power.  "  The  Odd  Woman  "  is  a  tragedy  that  describes 
the  poverty  of  helpless,  unnecessary  odd  women,  —  women 
the  world  has  no  place  for,  unnecessarily  born,  unneces- 
sarily reared,  without  husbands,  without  duties,  women 
whom  the  world  passes  by  without  a  thought  of  their 
pitiless  struggle  for  bread.  "The  Nether  World"  is 
like  one  of  Degroux's  paintings  :  it  is  all  black  misery  ; 
gaunt  starvation ;  ruin  of  spirit,  mind,  body  ;  slums, 
abysses.  A  terrible  book,  with  no  glint  of  light,  no 
rift  in  the  clouds ;  which  stares  out  of  its  pages  at  you 
like  that  grim  and  frightful  "  Melancholia"  of  Albrecht 
Diirer, 

In  connection  with  this  type  of  literature  one  should 
not  fail  to  mention  two  Russians  who  have  accomplished 
a  definite  and  important  work.  Tolstoy  in  "  War  and 
Peace "  has  done  in  literature  what  Vereschagin  has 
done  in  art.  Vereschagin  is  the  Herve  of  Russia, 
preaching  to  the  whole  nation  the  revolutionary  views 
of  the  anti-militarist.  He  could  not  speak  or  write  his 
views,  or  form  a  political  party  to  carry  them  out,  so  he 
gave  them  to  the  world  in  paint.  The  effect  exercised 
by  these  two  anti-militarists  upon  Russia  "  was  already 
apparent,"  Kropotkin  says,  "during  the  great  Turkish 
war  of  1 877- 1 878,  when  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to 
find  in  Russia  a  correspondent  who  would  have  described 
how  '  we  have  peppered  the  enemy  with  grapcshot,'  or 
how  'we  shot  them  down  like  ninepins.'  If  a  man 
could  have  been  found  to  use  in  his  letters  such  survi- 
vals of  savagery,  no  paper  would  have  dared  to  print 
them." 

In  portraying  the  evils  of  modern  society,  perhaps  no 
writers  have  done  a  more  effective  work  than  the  dram- 
atists.    Hermann  Sudermann's  "  Die  Ehre,"  "  Sodoms 


2/8  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

Ende,"  and  "  Heimat,"  the  latter  well  known  in  Amer- 
ica as  "  Magda,"  are  all  militant  dramatic  protests  and 
strong  social  satires.  Young  Sudermann  and  his  con- 
temporary, Gerhart  Hauptmann,  were  the  leaders  of  a 
new  movement  in  German  literature  which  voiced  the 
democratic  revolt  and  socialist  idealism  of  the  German 
youth  during  the  eighties  and  nineties.  "  The  Weavers  " 
of  Hauptmann  is  perhaps  the  most  powerful  socialist 
drama  that  has  been  written.  It  is  a  sombre  picture  of 
a  people  crushed  by  toil  and  driven  to  revolt  by  misery 
and  hunger,  ending  in  a  bloody  struggle  between  the 
soldiery  and  the  starving  workmen. 

Ibsen,  the  Norwegian  dramatist,  is  a  psychologist 
rather  than  a  sociologist,  battUng  against  sophistry, 
hypocrisy,  and  mistaken  ideals.  Even  in  his  so-called 
social  dramas,  "The  League  of  Youth,"  "The  Pillars  of 
Society,"  etc.,  he  is  far  more  interested  in  individual 
than  in  social  pathology.  Again  and  again  he  pictures 
the  individual  restive  under  the  restrictions  of  modern 
society,  and  in  revolt  against  the  slavery  of  some  modern 
conventionality.  With  considerable  feeling  he  once 
expressed  the  gist  of  his  philosophy  in  the  following 
words :  "  Liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  are  no  longer 
the  same  things  that  they  were  in  the  days  of  the 
blessed  guillotine;  but  it  is  just  this  that  the  politicians 
will  not  understand,  and  that  is  why  I  hate  them. 
These  people  only  desire  partial  revolutions,  —  revolu- 
tions in  externals,  in  politics.  But  these  are  mere  trifles. 
There  is  only  one  thing  that  avails  —  to  revolutionize 
people's  minds."  In  carrying  out  this  program  Ibsen 
waged  a  veritable  warfare  upon  philistinism.  He  con- 
ceived his  most  necessary  work  to  be  of  a  destructive 
character  with  the  bias  of  an  anarchist,  which  he  once 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART   AND   LITERATURE  279 

confessed  himself  to  be  in  a  letter  to  George  Brandes, 
the  Danish  critic.  He  is  the  avowed  representative  of 
the  Bazaroffs  that  Turgueneff  presents  so  powerfully  in 
"  Fathers  and  Sons." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  Bernard  Shaw,  the 
British  dramatist,  is  a  socialist,  who  purposely  uses  his 
art  for  propaganda  purposes.  He  employs  the  drama 
for  social  and  political  ends  as  the  church  once  did  for 
moral  and  religious  ends.  For  destroying  what  seems 
to  him  false  and  evil  in  present  society  his  method  is 
sometimes  that  of  the  anarchist,  and  John  Tanner  in 
"  Man  and  Superman  "  personifies  this  attitude  toward 
life.  Realizing  the  necessity  for  some  destruction,  some 
clearing  away  of  old  ideas  and  institutions  before  new 
ideas  and  institutions  can  take  their  place,  Shaw  is  often 
purely  destructive,  and  to  the  casual  reader  this  may 
seem  his  entire  aim.  But  a  careful  reading  of  his  novels 
and  dramas,  lectures,  criticisms  of  art  and  literature,  will 
give  proof  of  his  constructive  purpose.  He  can  resist 
the  tendency  so  little  that  he  prefaces  all  his  dramas  to 
make  his  point  clear,  and  —  to  slip  between  the  covers 
a  socialist  tract. 

Many  of  Shaw's  admirers  fail  to  grasp  the  funda- 
mental purpose  underneath  his  work,  mainly,  I  think, 
for  the  reason  that  wit  is  so  rarely  found  among  social 
reformers  and  idealists.  He  is  too  often  considered 
merely  a  man  of  literary  fancy  and  conceit,  fond  of 
trifling  with  the  world's  great  movements,  and  jeering 
at  cherished  ideals  and  ancient  beliefs.  But  in  all  his 
novels,  which  were  written  in  the  early  eighties  when 
most  of  his  time  was  spent  in  propaganda  for  the 
socialist  movement,  and  in  his  plays,  which  have  been 
written  during  the  last  ten  years,  a  definite  social  phi- 


280  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

losophy  manifests  itself.  "John  Bull's  Other  Island" 
is  a  political  tract  on  the  Irish  question,  and  "  Widow- 
ers' Houses "  shows,  as  Shaw  himself  says,  "  middle- 
class  respectability  and  younger  son  gentility,  fattening 
on  the  poverty  of  the  slum."  "  Mrs.  Warren's  Profes- 
sion" deals  with  the  problem  of  wage-earning  women 
under  modern  economic  conditions,  and  attempts  to 
prove,  to  use  Shaw's  own  words  again,  that  "any  so- 
ciety which  desires  to  found  itself  on  a  high  standard 
of  integrity  of  character  in  its  units  should  organize 
itself  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  make  it  possible  too  for 
all  men  and  all  women  to  maintain  themselves  in  rea- 
sonable comfort  by  their  industry  without  selling  their 
affections  and  their  convictions.  At  present  we  con- 
demn women  as  a  sex  to  attach  themselves  to  '  bread- 
winners,' licitly  or  illicitly,  on  pain  of  heavy  privation 
and  disadvantage."  "  Man  and  Superman,"  "  Major 
Barbara,"  and  "  The  Doctor's  Dilemma  "  have  a  broader 
social  outlook.  They  embrace  Shaw's  acute  criticisms 
of  modern  life  and  the  elements  of  his  constructive 
social  philosophy.  As  Holbrook  Jackson  says,  what 
Shaw  "has  aimed  at  doing  for  the  English  stage  is 
what  Ibsen,  Tolstoy,  Strindberg,  Brieux,  and  others 
have  done  for  the  European  stage ;  that  is,  to  inaugu- 
rate a  problem  drama  of  modern  ideas,  to  exhibit  dra- 
matically the  vital  part  of  human  beings  struggling 
against  things  and  conditions." 

"The  Perfect  Wagnerite,"  one  of  Shaw's  most  brill- 
iant critical  essays,  performs  a  double  service,  in  ena- 
bling him  to  show  the  revolutionary  sympathies  of  the 
great  musician,  and  at  the  same  time  to  portray  in  a 
masterly  manner  the  vices  of  capitahsm.  "  The  Ring," 
Shaw  explains,  was  begun  immediately  after  Wagner 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART   AND   LITERATURE  28 1 

escaped  to  Switzerland,  following  the  German  revolu- 
tion of  1849.  His  sympathy  for  the  poor  led  him  to 
participate  in  their  battle  against  the  rich  and  the 
wrong,  along  with  his  friend  Auguste  Roeckel,  and 
Michael  Bakounine,  the  famous  apostle  of  revolution- 
ary anarchism.  Wagner's  "  Art  and  Revolution," 
which  was  also  written  in  Switzerland,  shows  how 
thoroughly  the  socialist  side  of  the  German  uprising 
had  his  sympathy ;  and  for  three  years  he  spent  much 
of  his  time  pamphleteering  on  social  questions. 

According  to  Shavv^,  "  The  Ring,"  with  all  its  gods, 
giants,  and  dwarfs,  its  water  maidens  and  valkyries,  its 
wishing  cap,  magic  ring,  and  miraculous  treasure,  is  a 
dream  of  to-day,  symbolizing  the  struggle  for  gold  and 
power.  Wotan  represents  monarchy,  and  Loki  (the 
lie)  assists  him,  with  all  the  logic  and  imagination  of  an 
ordinary  corporation  attorney,  in  trying  to  maintain  his 
power.  His  wife  Frika  represents  law,  constitutions, 
and  other  inflexible  things,  while  Siegfried  signifies  the 
coming  of  man.  As  Shaw  says,  it  is  pretended  that 
there  are  as  yet  no  men  on  the  earth.  There  are  giants, 
dwarfs,  and  gods,  and  he  warns  us  against  the  danger 
of  imagining  that  the  gods  are  of  a  higher  order  than 
the  human.  This  he  says  is  not  at  all  true.  Man  must 
come  to  redeem  the  world  from  the  lame  and  cramped 
government  of  the  gods. 

In  the  first  opera,  "  The  Rhine  Gold,"  we  find  Alberic, 
a  dwarf,  endeavoring  to  rob  the  Rhine-maidens  of 
their  treasure.  He  is  the  typical  capitalist,  and  after  he 
once  obtains  the  power  which  gold  gives,  "  hordes 
of  his  fellow-creatures  are  thenceforth,"  says  Shaw, 
"condemned  to  slave  miserably,  overground  and 
underground,    lashed    to    their    work    by  the    invisible 


282  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

whip  of  starvation.  They  never  see  him  any  more 
than  the  victims  of  our  '  dangerous  trades '  ever 
see  the  shareholders  whose  power  is  nevertheless 
everywhere,  driving  them  to  destruction.  The  very 
wealth  they  create  with  their  labor  becomes  an  addi- 
tional force  to  impoverish  them;  for  as  fast  as  they 
make  it  it  slips  from  their  hands  into  the  hands  of  their 
master  and  makes  him  mightier  than  ever."  But  when 
Alberic  becomes  the  possessor  of  all  this  wealth,  others 
more  important  than  he  by  tradition  endeavor  to  rob 
him  of  it ;  and  all  the  rest  of  the  opera,  and  the  two  that 
follow,  are  taken  up  with  an  undignified  and  bitter 
struggle  for  the  gold.  Finally  Siegfried,  representing 
in  Shaw's  mind  not  socialism  but  anarchism,  comes  to 
make  an  end  of  the  gods. 

He  calls  Siegfried  a  young  Bakounine,  and  says  that 
while  anarchism  as  a  panacea  is  just  as  hopeless  as  any 
other  panacea,  and  will  be  so  even  if  we  breed  a  race  of 
perfectly  benevolent  men,  nevertheless  in  the  sphere  of 
thought  anarchism  is  a  necessary  preliminary  to  progress. 
Anarchism  represents  the  revolt  against  authority  no 
matter  what  force  and  tradition  it  may  have  behind  it. 
It  is,  therefore,  to  Shaw's  mind,  a  critical  faculty  essential 
to  intellectual  progress.  But  he  says  Anarchism  "  will 
not  be  replaced  by  Anarchism.  As  to  the  industrial  or 
political  machinery  of  society.  Anarchism  there  must 
always  reduce  itself  speedily  to  absurdity.  Even  the 
modified  form  of  Anarchy  on  which  modern  civilization 
is  based,  that  is,  the  abandonment  of  industry,  in  the 
name  of  individual  liberty,  to  the  upshot  of  competi- 
tion for  personal  gain  between  private  capitalists,  is  a 
disastrous  failure,  and  is,  by  the  mere  necessities  of  the 
case,  giving  way  to    ordered  Socialism.     For  the  eco- 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND   LITERATURE  283 

nomic  rationale  of  this,"  Shaw  dryly  adds,  "  I  must  refer 
disciples  of  Siegfried  to  a  tract  from  my  hand  pub- 
lished by  the  Fabian  Society  and  entitled  '  The  Impos- 
sibiHties  of  Anarchism.'  " 

Whether  or  not  Wagner  ever  reached  in  his  own 
mind  a  further  stage  than  that  represented  by  anarchism, 
Shaw  does  not  indicate,  but  he  does  tell  us  that  Wagner, 
like  Shelley  in  "  Prometheus  Unbound,"  ends  his  great 
drama  with  rapturous  loving  strains  that  have  no  par- 
ticular social  significance.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Wagner 
began  "The  Ring"  when  intensely  sympathetic  to  the 
revolutionary  cause,  and  ended  it  at  a  period  when  the 
passion  of  the  dramatist,  artist,  and  musician  was  upper- 
most. The  cycle,  therefore,  represents  infinitely  more  of 
the  spirit  of  revolt  at  the  beginning  than  at  the  end, 
which  is,  of  course,  true  also  of  Wagner's  life.  "  The 
Perfect  Wagnerite  "  is  interesting  not  only  in  itself, 
but  also  because  it  is  typical  of  Shaw.  Whether  he 
works  as  a  novelist,  dramatist,  musical  or  literary 
critic,  he  never  forgets  the  passion  of  his  life,  which  is 
socialism. 

William  Morris  deserves  a  first  place  in  the  Litera- 
ture of  Socialism.  It  must  have  been  a  surprise  to 
his  friends  when  in  1883  he  became  a  militant  mem- 
ber of  the  party.  The  superficial  observer  of  this 
poet  and  craftsman  during  the  seventies  could  hardly 
have  imagined  the  change  that  was  to  come.  Few 
men  have  led  a  life  more  completely  given  over  to 
culture.  As  he  himself  said,  he  was  "  the  idle  singer 
of  an  empty  day."  The  titles  of  his  books  indicate 
how  remote  was  Morris's  thought  from  all  that  is 
modern.  After  "The  Earthly  Paradise,"  he  wrote  the 
story    of    the    Golden    Fleece,   called    "  The  Life  and 


284  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Death  of  Jason,"  which  gave  him  a  foremost  position 
among  English  poets.  He  saturated  himself  with  the 
mythologies  of  Greece,  Persia,  and  the  North,  and  his 
translations  of  the  Icelandic  Sagas,  Virgil's  "  yEneid," 
and  the  Epic  of  Sigurd  were  the  poetic  harvests  of 
these  early  years. 

When  not  engaged  in  literature,  Morris  carried  on 
a  stupendous  work,  endeavoring  to  reinstate  domestic 
decoration  as  one  of  the  fine  arts.  With  a  group  of 
poets  and  artists,  including  Burne-Jones,  Dante  Ga- 
briel Rossetti,  and  Philip  Webb,  he  lavished  labor  and 
love  in  erecting  a  really  beautiful  house  in  the  suburbs 
of  London.  In  the  course  of  his  labors,  he  recreated 
the  mediaeval  arts  and  handicrafts,  including  painted 
windows,  mural  decoration,  furniture,  metal  and  glass- 
ware, paper  and  cloth  wall  hangings,  painted  tiles, 
jewellery,  printed  cottons,  woven  and  knitted  carpets, 
silk  damasks,  and  tapestries.  From  the  household  arts 
he  went  to  bookmaking,  and  reestablished  as  an  art 
printing,  illustration,  and  illumination.  There  were  sev- 
eral indications,  it  is  said,  that  when  he  "  plunged  into 
politics  he  was  on  the  brink  of  a  new  departure  in  the 
field  of  romance.  One  may  even  conjecture  the  path 
it  would  have  taken,  as  the  heroic  cycle  of  Iran  had 
long  held  in  his  mind  a  place  next  to  those  of  Greece 
and  Scandinavia." 

But  the  socialist  movement  came  to  claim  him,  and 
during  the  early  eighties  Morr«is  had  no  thought  for  the 
passions  of  his  former  years.  He  was  in  the  street, 
leading  the  unemployed,  speaking  in  Hyde  Park,  lec- 
turing in  little  out-of-the-way  holes  in  London,  distrib- 
uting hand-bills  in  front  of  lecture  halls,  and  selling 
sociahst  tracts  to  the  audiences.     During  this  period  he 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND   LITERATURE  285 

produced  little  of  artistic  or  literary  value,  although  he 
wrote  chants  for  the  movement,  and  assisted  in  editing 
two  socialist  journals.  When  his  passion  for  an  im- 
mediate revolution  gave  way  to  a  saner  outlook  upon 
life,  he  began  the  "  Dream  of  John  Ball,"  one  of  the 
finest  romances  in  our  language. 

In  this  book  Morris  goes  back  to  the  England  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  which  he  knew  so  well  and  loved 
so  fervently,  to  grasp  the  hand  of  John  Ball,  the  leader  of 
the  peasants'  revolt.  The  peasants  are  rising  all  over 
the  country,  and  are  on  the  way  to  London  to  demand  a 
declaration  of  freedom  from  the  king,  Morris  repre- 
sents himself  as  the  voice  of  the  future,  and  after 
watching  a  hard  battle  between  the  masters  and  the 
men,  he  and  John  Ball  spend  an  entire  night  in  con- 
versation in  the  choir-stalls  of  an  exquisite  little  Gothic 
church.  Ball  is  the  type  of  the  impassioned  idealist 
who  thinks  he  is  attacking  a  root  evil,  and  that  when 
the  serfs  are  freed,  misery  will  have  been  banished  from 
the  earth.  He  tries  to  learn  from  Morris  whether  or 
not  his  project  will  succeed,  and  what  will  befall  the 
people  in  the  time  to  come. 

There  is  something  of  anguish  in  the  answers  of 
Morris  as  he  outlines  to  John  Ball  the  increase  of 
misery  and  wretchedness  which  shall  come  during  the 
next  five  hundred  years,  until  the  climax  is  reached  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  tells  of  the 
days  when  the  landlords  -will  force  the  peasants  from 
the  fields,  enclose  the  commons,  and  confiscate  the 
lands.  He  pictures  the  abject  misery  of  the  workers 
who  must  sell  themselves  day  by  day  for  leave  to  labor. 
He  pictures  the  coming  of  the  machines  when  one  man 
shall  do  the  work  of  a  hundred  men,  yea  of  a  thousand 


286  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

or  more  ;  and  he  says  :  "  I  tell  thee  many  men  shall  be 
as  poor  and  wretched  always,  year  by  year,  as  they  are 
with  thee  when  there  is  famine  in  the  land ;  nor  shall 
any  have  plenty  and  surety  of  livelihood  save  those 
that  shall  sit  by  and  look  on  while  others  labor." 

"  Now  am  I  sorrier  than  thou  hast  yet  made  me," 
said  John  Ball ;  "  for  when  once  this  is  established, 
how  then  can  it  be  changed  ?  .  .  .  Woe's  me,  brother, 
for  thy  sad  and  weary  foretelling !  And  yet  saidst 
thou  that  the  men  of  those  days  would  seek  a  remedy. 
Canst  thou  yet  tell  me,  brother,  what  that  remedy  shall 
be,  lest  the  sun  rise  upon  me  made  hopeless  by  thy 
tale  of  what  is  to  be  ?  And,  lo  you,  soon  shall  she 
rise  upon  the  earth." 

"  In  truth  the  dawn  was  widening  now,  and  the 
colors  coming  into  the  pictures  on  wall  and  in  win- 
dow ;  and  as  well  as  I  could  see  through  the  varied 
glazing  of  these  last  (and  one  window  before  me  had 
as  yet  nothing  but  white  glass  in  it),  the  ruddy  glow, 
which  had  but  so  little  a  while  quite  died  out  in  the 
west,  was  now  beginning  to  gather  in  the  east;  —  the 
new  day  was  beginning.  I  looked  at  the  poppy  that  I 
still  carried  in  my  hand,  and  it  seemed  to  me  to  have 
withered  and  dwindled.  I  felt  anxious  to  speak  to  my 
companion  and  tell  him  much,  and  withal  I  felt  that  I 
must  hasten,  or  for  some  reason  or  other  I  should  be 
too  late  ;  so  I  spoke  at  last  loud  and  hurriedly  :  — 

'"John  Ball,  be  of  good  cheer;  for  once  more  thou 
knowest,  as  I  know,  that  the  Fellowship  of  Men  shall 
endure,  however  many  tribulations  it  may  have  to  wear 
through.  Look  you,  a  while  ago  was  the  light  bright 
about  us ;  but  it  was  because  of  the  moon,  and  the 
night  was  deep  notwithstanding,  and  when  the  moon- 


SOCIALISM   IN  ART  AND    LITERATURE  287 

light  waned  and  died  and  there  was  but  a  little  glimmer 
in  place  of  the  bright  light,  yet  was  the  world  glad  be- 
cause all  things  knew  that  the  glimmer  was  of  day  and 
not  of  night.  Lo  you,  an  image  of  the  times  to  betide 
the  hope  of  the  Fellowship  of  Men.  Yet,  forsooth,  it 
may  well  be  that  this  bright  day  of  summer  which  is 
now  dawning  upon  us  is  no  image  of  the  beginning  of 
the  day  that  shall  be  ;  but  rather  shall  that  day-dawn 
be  cold  and  gray  and  surly ;  and  yet  by  its  light  shall 
men  see  things  as  they  verily  are,  and  no  longer  en- 
chanted by  the  gleam  of  the  moon  and  the  glamour 
of  the  dreamtide.  By  such  gray  light  shall  wise  men 
and  valiant  souls  see  the  remedy,  and  deal  with  it,  a 
real  thing  that  may  be  touched  and  handled,  and  no 
glory  of  the  heavens  to  be  worshipped  from  afar  off. 
And  what  shall  it  be,  as  I  told  thee  before,  save  that 
men  shall  be  determined  to  be  free  ;  yea,  free  as  thou 
wouldst  have  them,  when  thine  hope  rises  the  highest, 
and  thou  art  thinking  not  of  the  king's  uncles,  and  poll- 
groat  bailiffs,  and  the  villeinage  of  Essex,  but  of  the 
end  of  all,  when  men  shall  have  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
and  the  fruits  of  their  toil  thereon,  without  money  and 
without  price.'  " 

There  are  too  many  beautiful  and  precious  things  in 
literature  for  one  to  say  lightly  that  this  or  that  is  most 
lovely  ;  and  yet  I  cannot  go  far  astray  when  I  put  in  my 
Golden  Treasury  that  handgrasp  of  sympathy  and  fellow- 
ship which  reaches  out  through  a  long  night  of  dreary 
centuries  and  unites  in  comradeship  these  two  great 
souls. 

Morris  realized,  and  meant  to  show  in  "  John  Ball," 
that  the  development  of  society  was  an  evolutionary  pro- 
cess, and  that  no  man  could  mould  it  to  his  ideal.     In 


288  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

writing,  therefore,  his  "  News  from  Nowhere  "  he  had 
no  intention  of  picturing  a  definite  social  order  that 
might  be  brought  into  being  by  the  conscious  effort  of 
the  sociaHst  movement.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Morris 
wrote  "  News  from  Nowhere  "  as  a  retort  totlie  machine- 
like Utopia  of  Edward  Bellamy.  Loving  labor,  he  did  not 
want  to  be  freed  from  it,  and  he  could  not  tolerate  the 
thought  of  a  civilization  founded  upon  bell-buttons  and 
automatic  machines.  It  was  his  ideal  that  all  work 
should  be  worth  doing,  and  be  in  itself  pleasurable. 
He  says,  "  It  is  right  and  necessary  that  all  men  should 
have  work  to  do  which  shall  be  worth  doing,  and  be  of 
itself  pleasant  to  do  ;  and  which  should  be  done  under 
such  conditions  as  would  make  it  neither  over-wearisome 
nor  over-anxious."  This  claim  is  the  basis  of  all  his 
socialism.  "To  feel,"  as  he  says,  "that  we  were  doing 
work  useful  to  others  and  pleasant  to  ourselves,  and  that 
such  work  and  its  due  reward  could  not  fail  us  !  What 
serious  harm  could  happen  to  us  then  t  "  "  News  from 
Nowhere  "  is  the  dream  of  a  society  based  upon  that 
claim. 

H.  G.  Wells  has  also  ventured  into  the  realm  of 
socialist  anticipation,  but  in  "  A  Modern  Utopia "  he 
does  not  attempt  to  plan  a  future  society.  His  book 
is  really  a  series  of  Utopian  speculations  based  upon  the 
scientific  achievement  of  to-day,  and  a  vision  of  the 
enormous  possibilities  for  human  development  in  a 
society  in  which  thought  and  labor  shall  be  dominated 
by  the  passion  for  human  welfare.  Anatole  France, 
in  "  Sur  la  Pierre  Blanche,"  pictures  a  society  arising 
out  of  the  socialist  movement  now  growing  in  strength 
and  acquiring  power  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe. 
In  this  story  an   international  group  of  parliamentary 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND   LITERATURE  289 

socialists  begin  to  exercise  toward  the  end  of  the 
twentieth  century  an  enormous  influence  upon  the 
various  governments,  with  the  result  that,  after  a  period 
of  terrible  warfare  over  the  colonizing  policy  of  the 
capitalist  regime,  war  is  finally  through  the  power  of  the 
socialists  rendered  impossible.  Capitalism,  having  de- 
veloped gigantic  trusts,  finds  itself  incapable  of  manag- 
ing the  great  forces  of  production,  and,  incited  by  greed, 
its  economic  warfare  leads  to  a  series  of  convulsions  and 
disasters.  This  accentuates  the  class  struggle,  and  a 
period  of  chaos  ensues,  until  at  last  socialism  emerges 
triumphant.  Socialist  republics  are  established  in  all  the 
European  countries,  and  their  delegates,  assembled  at 
Brussels,  proclaim  the  United  States  of  Europe. 

This  Utopia  is  compressed  into  about  sixty  pages. 
There  is  no  effort  to  plan  in  detail  a  new  society,  and  on 
the  whole  it  resembles  the  work  of  H.  G.  Wells,  except 
that  the  Utopian  speculation  upon  the  progress  of  sci- 
ence is  more  definite.  Flying  machines  and  wireless 
telegraphy  have  abolished  the  frontiers  ;  agriculture  is  a 
department  of  chemistry ;  architecture  is  the  highest 
developed  art,  as  it  is  the  most  useful ;  in  education  there 
is  no  more  necessity  for  studying  theology  and  law ;  and 
wireless  telegraphy  has  done  away  with  the  need  for 
police.  Music  retains  its  old  power,  and  in  the  theatre 
the  lyrical  replaces  comedy  and  tragedy.  Invasion  from 
American  and  Asiatic  countries  hostile  to  socialism  is 
rendered  impossible  by  a  belt  of  powerful  electrical  in- 
struments that  a  boy  can  set  in  motion,  "  Sur  la  Pierre 
Blanche"  is  a  delightful  piece  of  imaginative  writing, 
and  incidentally  presents  in  their  most  attractive  form 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  modern  socialist  move- 
ment 


290  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Another  effort  of  writers  and  artists,  akin  to  the 
search  for  an  ideal  society,  is  the  quest  for  the  ideal 
adjustment  between  the  individual  and  society.  Tol- 
stoy's "  Resurrection  "  should  be  placed  under  this  gen- 
eral heading.  Although  the  whole  range  of  modern 
society  is  presented  in  Tolstoy's  novel  more  powerfully 
than  in  the  work  of  any  other  Russian,  "  Resurrection  " 
is  really  the  testing  of  a  soul,  the  story  of  the  evolution 
of  the  moral  and  spiritual  life  in  its  search  for  individ- 
ual and  social  righteousness.  It  is  a  story  of  the  birth, 
the  growth,  the  death,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  spirit 
in  a  world  of  torment  and  anguish. 

A  similar  work  has  been  done  by  Fogazzaro  in  the 
trilogy  recently  translated  into  English.  The  Italian 
has,  in  a  quite  remarkable  way,  shown  the  evolution 
of  the  individual  soul  in  its  relation  to  that  social  en- 
vironment of  its  time  which  moulds  it  from  the  outside. 
In  "  The  Patriot"  we  have  the  beginning  of  the  revolt, 
the  young  Italian  filled  with  the  revolutionary  spirit 
of  the  seventies.  "  The  Sinner "  is  the  story  of  the 
testing  of  the  individual  not  yet  awakened  to  definite 
ideals.  In  "The  Saint"  the  hero,  "  Piero  Maironi," 
wavers  between  the  individualism  of  Tolstoy,  the  mo- 
nastic perfection  of  St.  Francis,  and  the  passion  for 
social  righteousness  expressed  in  the  socialist  move- 
ment. The  series  is  a  notable  contribution  to  the  lit- 
erature of  socialism,  taken  either  as  a  quest  for  the 
ideal  individual  or  the  ideal  social  principles.  Without, 
perhaps,  a  definite  intention  to  be  symbolical,  Fogazzaro 
has  pictured  in  the  first  two  volumes  the  spirit  of  Ital- 
ian life  during  the  seventies,  eighties,  and  early  nine- 
ties,—  the  spirit  which  I  have  tried  to  describe  in  the 
chapter  on  Italy.     The  people,  after  losing  the  Individ- 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART  AND   LITERATURE  29 1 

ualistic  ideals  of  the  Mazzinian  period,  were  sunk  in  the 
vices  of  political  corruption,  petty  intrigue,  and  materi- 
alism. In  "  The  Saint "  there  is  an  equally  symbolical 
picture  of  the  rebirth  of  the  Christian  idealism,  which 
has  been  so  potent  a  factor  in  all  the  reform  periods 
of  Italian  life,  and  the  rise  of  socialism.  It  may  be 
that  Fogazzaro  meant  to  keep  strictly  to  the  method  of 
the  psychologist  and  moralist ;  nevertheless,  one  finds 
in  his  work  an  immense  social  teaching.  He  tells  the 
story  of  the  evolution  of  the  soul  of  the  Italian  people. 
He  pictures  Italy  passing  from  the  heights  of  the  politi- 
cal passion  of  the  earlier  period,  through  the  valleys  of 
despair  and  corruption,  and  then  on  to  the  heights  of 
the  new  socialist  idealism. 

It  is  rare  to  find  in  modern  literature  a  book  so  ex- 
quisite, mingling  a  romanticism  so  delicate  with  a  real- 
ism so  powerful,  as  "  De  Kleine  Johannes,"  or  "The 
Quest,"  by  Frederik  van  Eeden.  I  know  of  nothing 
in  literature  more  sweetly  fantastical.  Hovering  about 
the  infancy  of  Johannes  are  fascinating  little  fairies 
who  lead  him  hither  and  thither  through  the  world  of 
fancy.  There  is  "  Windekind,"  whom  he  wants  to  take 
him  to  the  setting  sun  streaming  out  of  the  golden 
cloud-gates.  There  are  the  little  angels  of  fancy  that 
introduce  him  into  the  entrancing  world  of  four- 
footed  creatures  and  of  the  winged  beasts  of  the  air. 
"  Wistick "  and  many  other  little  fairy  gods  try  to 
show  him  the  beauty  of  all  other  creatures  but  man, 
and  the  exquisite  harmony  of  all  other  societies  except 
the  human.  And  then  there  is  "  Pluizer,"  who  takes 
Johannes  into  the  dirty  narrow  streets  of  the  city,  where 
the  little  strip  of  blue  sky  looks  only  a  finger's  breadth, 
where  children  creep  over  cold  floors,  and   little  girls 


292  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

hum  melodies  to  their  thin,  pale  nurslings.  Follow- 
ing "Pluizer"  comes  "Marcus,"  a  gaunt,  wandering 
scissors-grinder,  who  goes  about  among  circus  folk 
and  factory  hands  preaching  a  kind  of  Christian  so- 
cialism. He  takes  with  him  little  Johannes,  who  looks 
upon  the  wandering  missionary  as  a  kind  of  deity, 
despite  his  long  hair,  silly  old  cap,  and  frayed-out 
trousers.  As  they  lie  one  night  upon  a  hard  mattress 
in  a  wayside  garret,  Johannes  falls  to  weeping  over 
the  toil,  the  poverty,  and  squalor  they  see  and  suffer. 
"  When  I  see  your  shabby  clothes  and  blackened 
hands,"  sobs  Johannes,  "  when  I  hear  you  addressed 
as  comrade  by  these  poor  and  filthy  people,  when  I 
see  you  sharing  their  hard  and  unlovely  life,  then  I 
cannot  keep  from  crying."  "It  is  dreadful,"  Marcus 
answers,  "  not  on  my  account,  but  because  of  the  ne- 
cessity for  it."  "  But  how  can  there  be  any  need  of 
your  being  so  plain  and  sad.-*  Is  there  anything  good 
in  plainness  and  sadness  .''  "  "  No,  Johannes;  plainness 
and  sadness  are  evils.  The  beautiful  and  the  joyful 
only  are  good,  and  it  is  they  we  must  seek." 

I  do  not  know  what  "The  Quest"  means.  It  is 
vague  and  uncertain,  as  I  suppose  a  quest  must  be,  but 
as  a  picture  of  the  unrealities  we  love  and  of  the  real- 
ities we  hate  there  is  not  its  hke.  And  yet  what  a  pain- 
ful journey  ;  with  its  vague,  pervasive  longing  for  some 
certainty,  for  peace,  beauty,  and  goodness,  for  kindli- 
ness, for  human  sympathies,  for  respect  for  each  other's 
soul  and  each  other's  individuality.  It  is  all  quest,  — 
lonesome,  uncertain  quest  for  that  hidden  ideal,  always 
seeming  to  be  in  the  near  future,  yet  ever  evading  our 
grasp  when  we  seem  to  reach  it.  It  is  a  sorrowful 
tale ;  and  our  hearts  ache  with  the  little  Johannes  as 


SOCIALISM   IN   ART   AND   LITERATURE  293 

he  goes  through  the  big  world  on  this  serious  business. 
But  it  helps  us  to  understand  the  inevitable  impulse 
of  the  ever  active  brain  and  the  ever  yearning  heart  to 
struggle  forward  toward  the  light ;  a  struggle  not  only 
of  the  individual,  but  of  masses  of  individuals.  It  is 
the  sole  worthy  and  important  portent  of  the  modern 
socialist  movement,  of  all  quests  the  greatest. 


.CHAPTER  X 

THE     INTERNATIONAL 

There  is  a  lapse  of  nearly  two  thousand  years  between 
the  birth  of  the  first  International  and  the  second. 
There  are  many  points  of  resemblance  between  the  two, 
as  without  doubt  there  are  profound  differences.  The 
first,  like  the  second,  began  among  the  poor,  capturing 
organizations  of  working  men,  carrying  on  its  agitation 
wnerever  there  was  distress  and  misery,  and  raising  its 
banner  wherever  the  working  men  were  in  revolt. 
It  preached  a  gospel,  which  in  its  essence  meant  liberty, 
equality,  and  fraternity.  The  slaves  were  among  the 
first  to  accept  the  new  gospel,  and  wherever  they  were 
organized  in  unions  the  Christians  found  a  welcome. 
One  historian  says  it  was  at  Pergamus,  the  seat  of  the 
great  uprising  of  working  men  under  Aristonicus,  that 
the  Christians  built  one  of  their  most  celebrated 
churches.  The  people  were  in  the  throes  of  one  of 
the  bloodiest  class  conflicts  of  history.  Their  power- 
ful trade  union  had  enabled  them  to  keep  themselves 
free  from  slavery  ;  and  the  new  gospel,  preaching  the 
equality  of  workman  and  master,  of  slave  and  slave- 
owner, came  to  them  as  a  powerful  spiritual  support  in 
the  struggle  against  their  oppressors. 

Back  of  nearly  all  the  uprisings  of  slaves  and  work- 
men were  the  Christian  agitators.  In  this  way,  partly, 
Christianity  spread  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome,  and  from 
Rome  throughout  the  empire.     Its  propagandists  went 

294 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  295 

forth  to  convert  and  conquer  the  world,  forming  on 
their  way  new  organizations  of  working  men,  estab- 
lishing benefit  societies,  mutualities,  and  cooperatives. 
They  built  wherever  they  went "  Houses  of  the  People," 
and  preached  an  economic  doctrine  akin  to  modern 
socialism.  Lecky  says  that  "  Christianity  was  not 
merely  a  moral  influence.  It  was  also  an  institution 
definitely,  elaborately,  and  skilfully  organized,  possess- 
ing a  weight  and  a  stabiHty  which  isolated  or  undis- 
ciplined teachers  could  never  rival,  and  evoking,  to  a 
degree  before  unexampled  in  the  world,  an  enthusiastic 
devotion  to  its  corporate  welfare,  analogous  to  that  of 
the  patriot  to  his  country."  This  is  the  main  reason 
why  the  governments  persecuted  the  Christians.  Then, 
as  to-day,  there  was,  according  to  Lecky,  "  no  principle 
in  the  imperial  policy  more  stubbornly  upheld  than  the 
suppression  of  all  corporations  that  might  be  made  the 
nuclei  of  revolt."  One  other  thing  there  is  in  com- 
mon between  the  old  International  and  that  of  to-day : 
Wherever  the  early  Christians  formed  a  section  of  their 
movement  they  raised,  so  Osborne  Ward  says  in  "  The 
Ancient  Lowly,"  the  same  red  flag  which  has  passed 
from  revolutionist  to  revolutionist  through  all  periods 
of  history  down  to  the  working  men  of  our  own  time. 

The  members  of  this  early  International  were  sub- 
jected to  criticisms  familiar  to  our  ears.  They  were 
called  "enemies"  or  "haters  of  the  human  race."  At 
a  time  when  the  general  moral  standard  was  very  low 
they  were  charged  with  deeds  so  atrocious,  Lecky  says, 
as  to  scandalize  the  most  corrupt.  They  were  repre- 
sented as  habitually  celebrating  the  most  licentious 
orgies,  indulging  in  the  worst  of  evil  practices ;  and  it 
was  even  steadfastly  rumored  that  they  fed  on  human 


296  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

flesh.  Christianity  was  to  the  mind  of  the  upper  classes 
the  same  revolt  of  unchained  appetites  as  that  of  modern 
socialism ;  it  preached  the  same  dangerous  and  sub- 
versive doctrines  and  was  led  by  the  same  sort  of 
irresponsible  revolutionists. 

Christmas  was  once  the  fete  day  of  labor.  It  drew 
men,  women,  and  children  together  to  celebrate  the 
advent  of  peace  on  earth  and  good-will  to  men.  The 
first  of  May  is  the  fete  day  of  the  modern  movement. 
In  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet  where  socialists  are  to  be 
found,  this  May  Day  is  a  festival.  In  Germany,  France, 
Italy,  Austria,  Belgium,  Russia,  America,  and  even  in 
the  Antipodes,  millions  of  workmen  assemble.  There 
are  parades,  public  meetings,  orations,  concerts,  mani- 
festations, and  banquets.  As  the  people  meet  they 
greet  each  other  as  comrades,  and  before  them  as  they 
march  they  bear  a  flag  which  represents  to  them  a 
higher  ideal  than  that  of  family,  country,  or  nation  — 
the  ideal  of  universal  brotherhood  and  peace  on  earth. 
Their  poets  compose  songs  for  the  day,  and  their 
artists  paint  pictures  to  celebrate  the  approaching 
victory  of  Labor. 

Like  the  ancient  one,  this  modern  movement  is  not 
a  mere  spasm  of  solidarity.  Wherever  there  is  a  mine, 
a  mill,  or  a  factory,  there  are  unions,  brotherhoods,  and 
other  manifestations  of  this  now  almost  universal  or- 
ganization of  the  workers.  Its  unions,  cooperatives, 
friendly  societies,  and  mutualities  are  bound  together 
in  district  organizations,  in  national  organizations,  and 
finally  in  international  organizations.  The  membership 
of  the  unions  alone  numbers  between  eight  and  ten 
million  men  and  women  ;  a  million  in  France,  two  mill- 
ion in  England,  over  two  million  in  America,  and  about 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  297 

the  same  number  in  Germany.  The  members  of  the 
cooperative  associations  and  friendly  societies  can  also 
be  numbered  by  the  million ;  and  the  political  organi- 
zations of  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet  are  organized  by 
district  and  nation  into  a  great  international,  number- 
ing again  about  ten  million  members.  If  one  counts 
women  and  children,  also,  the  total  would  approximate 
thirty-five  or  forty  milKon.  Wherever  capitalism  takes 
root,  —  in  Russia,  Japan,  and  China,  as  well  as  with 
us,  —  this  movement  follows  it;  and  no  matter  what 
method  of  organization  may  be  chosen  at  the  begin- 
ning, whether  it  is  trade  union  as  in  England,  cooperative 
as  in  Belgium,  political  as  in  Germany,  the  complete 
organization  of  the  working-class  ends  by  welding  all 
forms  of  its  revolt  into  one  movement,  which  harmonizes 
its  varying  methods  of  conflict. 

This  amazing  organization  of  working  men  is  of 
comparatively  recent  growth,  being  mainly  the  work  of 
the  last  half  century.  Accustomed  to  change,  the 
modern  world  seems  incapable  of  surprise ;  and  even 
this  miracle  of  miracles  becomes  a  commonplace.  Yet 
only  a  few  decades  ago  it  was  a  dream,  a  wild,  fanciful 
dream  of  two  lonely  men.  One  of  these  was  a  Jew, 
who  had  been  driven  from  country  to  country,  until 
finally  he  found  shelter  and  protection  amidst  a  foreign 
population  in  the  Rome  of  the  modern  world.  He 
was  in  desperate  poverty  and  sometimes  without  food. 
Once  a  political  exile,  almost  as  poor  as  himself,  gave 
him  money  to  buy  a  poor  pine  coffin  for  his  dead  child. 
He  was  a  dreamer  who  saw,  as  no  one  else  of  his  time 
saw,  that  economic  and  social  evolution,  and  the  march 
of  events,  would  make  his  dream  come  true. 

Yet   what   could    have   seemed   more   impossible   in 


298  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

1848  than  the  international  organization  of  working 
men  ?  It  was  a  year  of  revolutions.  In  nearly  every 
country  of  Europe,  liberalism,  then  the  political  name 
for  capitalism,  was  striking  its  final  blow  for  victory. 
Fighting  under  a  banner  that  promised  liberty  to  all, 
it  obtained  it  for  itself  alone.  Liebknecht  has  said, 
"  The  German  capitalists  who  now  applaud  the  thought 
of  empire,  and  see  in  this  day  the  essence  of  the 
most  brilHant  diplomatic  wisdom  in  Bismarck's  blood 
and  iron  policy,  were  fifty  years  ago,  from  first  to  last, 
Hberal  and  democratic,  hating  militarism,  ridiculing 
police  rule ;  in  short  opposing  everything  they  venerate, 
or  at  least  deem  necessary,  to-day."  So  it  was,  and  is, 
throughout  Europe.  Nevertheless,  in  the  forties,  amidst 
these  political  upheavals,  the  working-class  bore  aloft 
the  banner  of  the  Liberals. 

The  sociahsts,  as  well  as  all  other  advanced  thinkers, 
looked  to  liberalism  for  the  salvation  of  the  people. 
The  Fourierists,  the  Cabetists,  and  St.  Simonists  were 
forming  societies,  mostly  among  the  middle  class,  to 
carry  out  their  ideals.  Weitling  was  at  the  head  of 
a  similar  movement  in  Germany.  Robert  Owen  was 
working  among  the  manufacturers  of  England,  en- 
deavoring to  persuade  them  to  become  the  real  organ- 
izers of  labor,  and  to  reconstruct  industrial  society 
upon  lines  offering  equal  opportunities  to  all.  The 
political  socialists  of  France  were  endeavoring  to 
convert  capitalists  to  the  necessity  of  organizing  labor 
through  state  socialism.  Proudhon  condemned  all 
state  action,  and  urged  the  working-classes  to  eman- 
cipate themselves  by  the  cooperative  method.  With  the 
exception  of  the  latter,  no  one  looked  upon  the  workers 
as  capable  of  emancipating  themselves. 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  299 

The  woi'king-class  was  divided,  ignorant,  and  sunk 
in  the  depths  of  misery.  The  chaos  of  industry,  the 
economic  crises,  the  rapid  introduction  of  new  ma- 
chines, had  without  warning  thrown  multitudes  out 
of  work  into  a  state  of  forced  starvation.  In  revenge 
they  burned  factories,  destroyed  the  new  machines,  and 
generally  throughout  Europe  they  were  striking,  riot- 
ing, devastating,  without  intelligence  or  organization. 
Speaking  of  an  English  insurrection,  Carlyle  says : 
"  A  million  of  hungry  operative  men  rose  all  up,  came 
all  out  into  the  streets,  and  —  stood  there.  What 
other  could  they  do  ?  Their  wrongs  and  griefs  were 
bitter,  insupportable.  ...  A  million  hungry  operative 
men  started  up,  in  utmost  paroxysm  of  desperate  pro- 
test against  their  lot;  and  certain  hundreds  of  drilled 
soldiers  sufficed  to  suppress  this  million-headed  hydra, 
and  tread  it  down,  without  the  smallest  appeasement, 
or  hope  of  such,  into  its  subterranean  settlements 
again,  there  to  reconsider  itself."  There  were  many 
socialists  in  Europe,  great-hearted  idealists,  who  saw 
this  misery,  and  wept ;  but  even  to  them  labor  appeared 
like  Millet's  "Man  with  the  Hoe":  plundered,  pro- 
faned, and  disinherited,  promising  his  whirlwinds  of 
rebellion ;  but  "  stolid  and  stunned,  a  brother  to  the 
ox."  He  was  too  gross  and  stupid  and  crushed,  they 
thought,  to  raise  himself,  or  to  realize  the  cause  of  his 
misery ;  and  it  was,  they  imagined,  only  instinctive 
that  occasionally  there  ran  through  him  a  paroxysm 
of  blind  and  brutal  revolt.  "  Look  around  you," 
Carlyle  said  to  the  masters.  "  Your  world  hosts  are 
all  in  mutiny,  in  confusion,  in  destitution;  on  the  eve 
of  fiery  wreck  and  madness." 

What   reasonable    man    could    have    looked    in    the 


3CX)  SOaALISTS   AT   WORK 

direction  of  the  people  with  any  confidence  ?  The 
great  minds,  then  working  to  find  a  sohition  for  the 
intolerable  misery  of  the  masses,  looked  upon  them 
with  compassion  and  not  with  hope.  There  were, 
however,  two  young  Germans,  Karl  Marx  and  Frederick 
Engels,  working  among  some  fugitives  and  political 
exiles  in  Belgium  and  Paris.  The  Communist  AHiance, 
mainly  a  conspiratory  organization,  had  been  founded 
in  1836  by  some  revolutionists.  It  had  gradually 
spread  to  all  the  German  working  men's  clubs  of 
England,  Belgium,  France,  and  Switzerland,  and  in 
order  to  make  it  international  it  was  decided  to  admit 
members  from  other  nationalities  also.  When  Marx 
entered  the  alliance,  it  became  an  open  organization 
for  propaganda  instead  of  secret  and  conspiratory. 
Rejecting  its  ridiculous  ideas  of  insurrection,  it  began 
seriously  the  work  of  education,  and  became  a  school 
for  socialism.  Although  it  never  exercised  any  con- 
siderable influence  upon  other  nationalities,  it  con- 
tinued to  grow  as  long  as  the  flood  of  German  political 
exiles  continued. 

Two  congresses  were  held  in  1847,  the  second  of 
which  decided  to  publish  a  manifesto,  which  Marx  and 
Engels  were  delegated  to  write.  In  the  following  year, 
shortly  before  the  February  revolution,  the  now  famous 
Communist  Manifesto  was  issued.  Its  significance  was 
immense  ;  for  besides  giving  a  rapid  survey  of  industrial 
evolution  it  proclaimed  for  the  first  time  the  idea  of  a 
Labor  Party,  independent  of  all  other  pohtical  organi- 
zations. Amidst  the  chaos  of  the  time  Marx  alone  saw 
the  forces  gathering,  out  of  which  were  slowly  evolving 
a  definite  political  and  economic  organization  of  the 
workers.     He    recognized    that  the  working-class    was 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  3OI 

not  then  sufficiently  developed  to  constitute  itself  into  a 
distinct  party,  and  consequently  that  the  struggle  of  the 
workers  could  not  immediately  assume  a  political  char- 
acter ;  but  he  prophesied  that  that  would  be  the  outcome 
of  industrial  evolution.  In  the  manifesto  he  traced 
briefly  the  character  of  the  revolts  then  taking  place 
against  capitalist  institutions,  and  pointed  out  that  the 
working-class  was  being  driven  more  and  more  to  or- 
ganize for  protection  and  mutual  assistance.  He  admits 
that  the  organization  of  the  proletarians  into  a  class, 
and  consequently  into  a  political  party,  is  continually 
being  upset  by  the  competition  between  the  workers 
themselves  ;  but  nevertheless  it  ever  rises  again  stronger, 
firmer,  and  mightier.  The  communist  associations, 
through  which  he  had  hoped  to  carry  on  an  interna- 
tional propaganda,  failed  to  bring  definite  results.  They 
were,  to  begin  with,  exotic,  and  consisting  almost  en- 
tirely of  German  exiles  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
influence  their  fellow-workmen  of  other  nationalities. 
As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  number  of  political  refugees 
decreased  the  clubs  became  weaker,  and  within  a  few 
years  extinct. 

Meanwhile  the  workers  throughout  Europe  were 
actively  engaged  organizing  trade  unions,  cooperatives, 
and  mutual  societies  to  aid  in  their  struggle  with  capi- 
talism. It  was  a  period  of  great  activity,  and  while 
Marx  and  Engels  devoted  most  of  their  time  during  the 
next  fifteen  years  to  scientific  and  literary  work,  they, 
were  not  without  hope  that  the  organization  of  the 
working-class  would  develop  international  strength. 
Toward  the  sixties  they  believed  that  the  time  was 
arriving  for  the  launching  of  an  organization  compris- 
ing the  labor  movements  of  the  various  countries,  and 


302  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

when  a  meeting  took  place  in  London  in  1863  for  the 
purpose  of  expressing  sympathy  with  the  PoHsh  people, 
who  had  just  been  crushed  again  by  Russia,  the  idea 
was  broached  and  sympathetically  considered.  A  short 
time  later  a  second  meeting  of  sympathy  for  Poland 
was  held  in  London,  in  which  some  French  workers 
took  part,  and  after  a  debate  on  the  social  question,  it 
was  finally  resolved  to  form  the  International.  On  the 
28th  of  September  in  the  following  year,  at  a  memo- 
rable meeting  in  St.  James's  Hall,  London,  the  Inter- 
national Working  Men's  Association  was  founded. 
Marx  edited  the  inaugural  address,  the  program,  and 
the  constitution.  It  was  not  to  be  a  fighting  organiza- 
tion, but  rather,  so  far  as  possible  under  the  conditions 
prevailing  at  that  time,  a  centre  for  all  endeavors 
toward  the  emancipation  of  the  working-class.  In  a 
measure  it  was  a  practical  fulfilment  of  the  appeal 
addressed  to  the  workers  sixteen  years  before  in  the 
Communist  Manifesto,  —  "  Proletarians  of  all  countries, 
unite ! " 

The  new  movement  was  an  attempt  to  bring  together 
all  the  organizations,  and  to  harmonize  all  the  diverse 
tendencies  represented  in  the  revolutionary  movements 
of  Europe.  It  included  working-class  leaders,  from  the 
extreme  anarchist  to  the  moderate  republican  of  the 
Mazzini  type.  In  England  the  members  were  mostly 
trade  unionists  ;  in  Germany,  socialists  ;  in  France  and 
the  Latin  countries,  anarchists.  A  few  working  men's 
organizations  in  America  allied  themselves,  and  in  other 
countries  there  were  many  affiliated  groups.  Nearly  all 
the  leaders,  however,  were  of  the  middle  class,  and 
many  able  thinkers  sympathized  with  and  supported  the 
movement.     It  started  with  every  promise  of  success  ; 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  303 

but  it  was  loosely  organized,  and  it  mirrored  the  chaotic 
condition  of  the  working-class  itself.  More  brilliant 
than  substantial,  it  was  not  long  before  bitter  feuds 
broke  out  among  the  leaders,  which  added  to  the  gen- 
eral confusion,  and  divided  the  workers  even  more 
grievously  than  before. 

The  various  tendencies  represented  not  only  a  differ- 
ence in  view  as  to  economic  theory,  but  as  to  tactics  as 
well;  and  Marx  and  Engels  soon  saw  that  no  harmony 
could  exist  between  their  method  of  political  action  and 
that  of  the  anarchists,  who  believed  that  the  riew  society 
must  be  founded  upon  the  entire  destruction  of  the  old. 
In  addition  to  these  two  diametrically  opposed  views 
there  were  countless  minor  tendencies,  almost  as  im- 
possible to  harmonize.  The  Blanquists  were  con- 
spirators, hoping  to  capture  by  stealth  the  French 
government.  The  Proudhonians  were  opposed  to  all 
parliamentary  action,  and  the  republicans  and  liberals 
were  unable  to  see  the  necessity  for  a  working-class  party 
independent  of  the  old  political  organizations.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  uniting  the  workers,  the  International  be- 
came the  storm  centre  of  divisions,  of  warring  personali- 
ties, of  jealous  and  ambitious  intellectuals,  until  finally 
Marx  became  a  dictator. 

Marx  was  a  trained  polemicist.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  he  and  some  friends  founded  a  German  paper. 
His  attacks  upon  the  government  were  ferocious,  but 
his  literary  ingenuity  was  such  that  the  censors  could 
find  nothing  to  condemn.  The  authorities  again  and 
again  changed  the  censor,  and  then  his  articles  were  sub- 
mitted to  a  double  censorship  ;  but  even  that  was  ineffec- 
tual, and  in  despair  the  government  was  forced  eventually 
to   suppress  the  paper.     As  editor    of   this  and  other 


304  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

German  papers,  and  as  a  literary  free-lance,  Marx  con^ 
ducted  for  about  twenty  years  a  relentless  campaign 
against  the  governments,  the  Liberals,  and  the  hypocriti- 
cal politicians.  He  was  an  unsparing  critic.  The  Chinese 
say  that  if  you  have  an  enemy,  treat  him  as  an  ele- 
phant, even  though  he  be  a  mouse.  Some  of  Marx's 
opponents  were  of  little  consequence,  but  he  always 
treated  them  as  leviathans. 

One  of  Marx's  greatest  polemics  is  "  The  Eighteenth 
Brumaire  of  Louis  Bonaparte."  Liebknecht  says  of  it : 
"  The  words  are  darts  and  spears,  and  the  style  one  that 
stigmatizes  and  destroys.  If  hate,  if  scorn,  if  burning 
love  of  freedom  ever  found  expression  in  flaming,  anni- 
hilating, and  elevating  words,  then  it  was  surely  in  the 
Eighteenth  Brumaire."  In  answer  to  the  criticisms 
sometimes  made  against  Marx's  writings,  that  they  are 
obscure  and  unintelligible,  Liebknecht,  speaking  of  this 
book,  asks :  "  Is  the  dart  incomprehensible  that  flies 
straight  to  its  target  ?  Is  the  spear  unintelligible  that, 
hurled  by  a  steady  hand,  penetrates  the  heart  of  the 
enemy  .'*  "  Another  polemic  is  "  Mr.  Vogt,"  where  Marx 
gives  play  to  his  extraordinary  gifts  as  humorist  and  satir- 
ist. At  twenty-eight  years  he  engaged  in  an  intellectual 
duel  that  is  now  famous  in  the  history  of  socialism,  with 
one  of  the  greatest  French  economists.  Proudhon  and 
Marx  knew  each  other  intimately,  and  often  spent  entire 
nights  together  discussing  socialism.  But  they  could 
not  agree,  and  when  Proudhon  published  his  "  Philoso- 
phy of  Misery,"  he  wrote  to  Marx,  saying,  "  I  wait  your 
criticism."  A  few  months  afterward  Marx  pubhshed 
his  scathing  "  Misery  of  Philosophy."  It  was  terrific, 
and  ended  their  friendship  forever. 

This    critical   power  of  Marx   was  his  most  terrible 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  305 

weapon,  and  he  used  it  without  the  shghtest  mercy 
against  all  whom  he  considered  to  be  mistaken  either  in 
their  economic  views  or  socialist  tactics.  A  school  of 
great  thinkers,  the  early  French  socialists,  rest  to-day 
under  the  stigma  of  his  powerful  critique  —  they  were 
Utopians.  He  condemned  the  state  socialists  and  even 
the  theories  of  Lassalle  in  Germany,  who  always 
considered  himself  a  disciple  of  Marx.  Finally  he 
turned  upon  Bakounine  and  the  anarchists,  who  formed 
one  of  the  most  powerful  sections  of  the  International. 
Bakounine  was  a  great  intellect,  and  his  influence 
in  Russia,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  and  Switzerland 
was  immense.  It  was  a  battle  royal,  which  finally  in 
1872  forced  Marx,  in  order  to  rid  the  movement  of  the 
dangerous  tactics  of  the  anarchists,  to  destroy  the  Inter- 
national itself. 

At  this  stage  of  Marx's  career  he  could  hardly  have 
appeared  to  the  superficial  observer  as  an  attractive  per- 
sonality. His  influence  in  the  movement  seemed  purely 
destructive.  He  appeared  monstrously  quarrelsome,  and 
his  enemies  spread  throughout  Europe  the  impression 
that  he  was  a  dishonest  and  ambitious  politician,  con- 
sumed with  egotism.  To  them  he  was  a  mere  charlatan 
who  had  forced  himself  into  a  position  of  dictatorship  in 
the  International,  and  they  expected  the  most  disastrous 
consequences.  Perhaps  the  kindliest  criticism  that  one 
finds  of  Marx  amongst  his  enemies  of  that  period  is  that 
of  Bakounine.  "  I  have  known  Marx  for  a  long  time," 
he  says,  "  and  although  I  deplore  certain  defects  trul}/" 
detestable  of  his  character,  such  as  a  tempestuous  and 
jealous  personality,  susceptible,  and  too  much  given  to 
admiration  of  himself,  an  implacable  hatred,  which  mani- 
fests itself  in  the  most  odious  calumny,  and  a  ferocious 


306  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

persecution  against  all  those  who,  while  sharing  the  same 
tendencies  as  his,  have  the  misfortune  not  to  be  able  to 
accept  either  his  particular  system  or  his  supreme  and  per- 
sonal direction  ;  .  .  .  nevertheless  I  have  always  highly 
appreciated  and  rendered  complete  justice  to  the  truly 
superior  science  and  intelligence  of  Marx,  and  to  his 
unalterable,  enterprising,  and  energetic  devotion  to  the 
great  cause  of  the  emancipation  of  the  proletariat.  I 
recognize  the  immense  services  he  has  rendered  the  In- 
ternationa.], of  which  he  has  been  one  of  the  principal 
founders,  and  which  constitutes  to  my  eyes  his  greatest 
title  to  glory." 

Opposed  to  the  criticisms  of  his  enemies  we  have  the 
eulogies  of  his  friends ;  few  men  have  possessed  more 
devoted  ones.  Liebknecht,  in  his  charming  memoir  of 
Marx,  shows  how  great  he  was  in  heart  and  mind. 
"This  generous  heart,"  he  says,  "that  throbbed  so 
warmly  for  everything  human  and  for  everything  bear- 
ing human  features.  .  .  .  He  was  not  only  the  most 
loving  of  fathers ;  he  could  be  a  child  among  children 
for  hours.  He  was  also  attracted  as  by  magnetism 
toward  strange  children,  particularly  helpless  children 
that  chanced  to  cross  his  way.  Time  and  again  he 
would  suddenly  tear  himself  away  from  us,  on  wander- 
ing through  districts  of  poverty,  in  order  to  stroke  the 
hair  of  some  child  in  rags  or  to  slip  a  penny  into  its 
little  hand."  What  a  contrast  this,  to  the  pitiless,  icono- 
clastic Marx  one  thinks  of  in  the  International.  His 
charity,  his  faithfulness,  his  courage  despite  the  oppres- 
sive poverty  to  which  he  was  nearly  always  subjected, 
and  his  disinterested  devotion  to  the  workers,  cannot 
be  questioned  if  one  reads  the  few  sketches  of  his  per- 
sonality that  are  left  to  us  by  his  friends. 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  307 

Far  from  being  vain  and  egotistical,  "  Marx  was," 
Liebknecht  says,  "  one  of  the  few  among  the  great,  little, 
and  average  men  I  have  known  who  was  not  vain." 
He  "  was  too  much  like  a  child  to  simulate."  He  was  a 
poor  diplomatist,  as  "  he  was  truth  personified,  free  from 
guile  and  hypocrisy."  He  worked  tremendously  hard, 
and  being  often  hindered  during  the  daytime  took 
refuge  in  the  night.  When  he  went  home  from  some 
meeting  or  session,  he  would  sit  down  regularly  for  a 
few  hours,  and  these  hours  were  more  and  more  ex- 
tended until  finally  he  was  accustomed  to  work  all 
night.  Liebknecht  sums  up  his  estimate  of  Marx  in 
these  words  :  "  Happily  I  became  acquainted  with 
great  men  so  early  in  life  and  so  intimately  that  my 
belief  in  idols  and  human  gods  was  destroyed  at  a  very 
early  period,  and  even  Marx  was  never  an  idol  to  me, 
although  of  all  human  beings  I  have  met  in  my  life  he 
was  the  only  one  who  has  made  an  imposing  impression 
upon  me."  Liebknecht's  memoir  is  simple  and  un- 
affected, showing  every  sign  of  complete  sincerity. 
Frederick  Engels,  the  lifelong,  devoted  friend  and  in- 
separable companion  of  Marx,  was  something  of  a 
hero-worshipper,  and  time  has  yet  to  justify  what  he 
wrote  just  after  Marx's  death:  "  The  greatest  mind  of 
the  second  half  of  our  century  has  ceased  to  think." 

The  time  has  not  arrived  to  make  a  complete  estimate 
of  Marx,  but  at  least  it  can  be  seen  that  the  fears  of  his 
opponents  in  the  International  were  without  foundation. 
If  he  presumed  to  be  a  dictator,  it  was  not  because  he 
was  personally  ambitious  or  desired  to  conduct  a  per- 
sonal warfare ;  it  was  because  he  had  a  constructive 
policy  which  he  profoundly  believed  contained  the  es- 
sential principles  upon  which  the  working-class  move- 


3o8  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ment  should  be  conducted.  His  warfare  was  against 
policies  and  not  men.  Like  other  great  intellects  he 
often  pursued  his  ends  with  relentless  vigor  and  almost 
brutal  power.  However  much  of  sentiment  there  was 
in  his  personal  relations,  it  did  not  affect  the  conduct 
of  his  policies.  That  individuals  were  injured  did  not 
count,  and  sentiments  of  mercy  found  no  place  in  his 
great  campaign  for  synthesizing  the  doctrines  and  de- 
fining the  tactics  of  working-class  organization.  A 
man  in  whom  sentiment  was  predominant  could  not, 
after  having,  for  the  sake  of  working-class  unity,  created 
a  great  movement  like  the  International,  for  the  same 
reason  destroy  it,  after  a  brief  existence  of  nine  years. 

But  there  was  much  left  to  Marx  after  the  fall  of  the 
International.  It  had  at  least  rendered  him  one  great 
service.  He  had  selected  from  amongst  its  members 
men  who  proved  to  be  some  of  the  ablest  leaders  in 
the  European  movement.  It  is  most  amusing  to  read 
of  the  methods  Marx  used  in  selecting  his  disciples. 
He  was  not  a  zealous  devotee  of  phrenology,  but  he 
believed  in  it  to  some  extent,  and  when  young  men  of 
prepossessing  ability  came  along,  Marx  put  them  through 
an  examination  which  was  terrifying,  and  often  sub- 
mitted their  skulls  to  a  minute  examination.  He  then 
put  them  through  a  course  of  study,  and  those  who 
came  to  him  in  London  were  sent  to  the  reading  room 
of  the  British  Museum  to  pass  a  certain  time  each  day. 
Every  morning  he  would  shout  to  his  pupils,  as  he  sent 
them  off  to  the  Museum,  this  imperative,  "  Learn, 
learn  !  "  Liebknecht  says  that  "  while  the  rest  of  the 
fugitives  were  laying  plans  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
world,  and  intoxicating  themselves  day  by  day,  evening 
by  evening,  with   the  hasheesh  drink  of,  '  To-morrow 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  309 

the  revolution  will  start ' ;  we  the  '  sulphur  gang,*  '  the 
bandits,'  were  sitting  in  the  British  Museum,  trying  to 
educate  ourselves  and  to  prepare  arms  and  ammunition 
for  the  battles  of  the  future." 

In  this  way  Marx  schooled  many  of  his  disciples  who 
were  to  give  form  during  the  next  few  years  to  the  po- 
litical movement  of  the  working-class  in  nearly  every 
country  in  Europe.  Wherever  they  went,  they  con- 
ducted the  same  battle  that  Marx  had  previously  led  in 
the  International.  In  Italy  they  opposed  the  purely 
republican  policy  of  the  followers  of  Mazzini  and  Gari- 
baldi, although  at  a  congress  in  1881,  at  which  the 
latter  preiBded,  socialists  and  republicans  sat  side  by  side. 
For  over  twenty  years  the  Marxists  used  their  utmost 
efforts  to  win  the  working-class  from  the  anarchists  and 
from  other  leaders  of  the  violent  type,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  nineties  that  a  definitely  political  movement 
came  into  being.  In  France,  amidst  a  wild  confusion 
of  doctrines,  they  were  forced  to  battle  with  the  anti- 
parliamentary  views  of  Proudhon,  the  secret  and 
conspiratory  methods  of  the  Blanquists,  the  ruinous 
patronage  of  the  republicans,  and  the  blind  and  violent 
policy  of  the  anarchists;  but  as  early  as  1878  Jules 
Guesde,  Paul  Lafargue,  and  Gabriel  Deville  brought 
a  section  of  the  French  workers  into  the  political  move- 
ment. 

In  Germany  there  was  a  similar  struggle  going  on 
between  the  Marxists,  the  Lassallians,  the  anarchists, 
and  the  sentimental  socialists.  That  incomparable  agi- 
tator, Lassalle,  had  for  several  years  been  engaged  in 
organizing  the  Universal  Workmen's  Association.  Lieb- 
knecht,  when  he  returned  from  London,  began  to  pro- 
mote the  International;  and  soon  converted  August  Bebel 


310  SUCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

to  the  Marxian  view.     The  movement,  however,  was  di- 
vided until   1875,  when  finally  through  the  oppression 
of  Bismarck  the  two  rival  sections  were  forced  together, 
and  a  compromise   program  was  adopted.     De  Paepe, 
in  Belgium,  long  found  it  impossible  to  unite  the  war- 
ring factions,  and  the  conflict  between  the  followers  of 
Proudhon    and    Marx    continued    uninterruptedly    until 
1885,  when  the  Labor  Party  was  inaugurated.     In  Hol- 
land the  movement  was  also  taking  form,  although  in 
1890  differences  of  a  serious  character  arose  between 
the   followers  of   the  famous  anarchist,  Domela  Nieu- 
wenhuis,    and   the    Marxists.     In    Denmark  a  socialist 
labor  party  was  the  work  of   the  International,  but  it 
soon  degenerated  into  a  simple  trade  union,  although  it 
retained   its    political   program.     Eventually,    however, 
the  Danish  socialists  in   1878   came   to    an    agreement 
with    the    unions,    left    the    middle-class    parties,    and 
formed    a    social    democratic    organization.     A    similar 
thing    happened    in    Sweden,    but   in    Switzerland   the 
foundation   of    a    party   was   delayed   until    1888.     In 
Spain  a  strong  anarchist  tendency  among  the  workers 
prevented  the  growth  of    socialism  until  Pablo    Ingle- 
sias  founded  a  paper  in  1888;  and  shortly  afterward  a 
socialist    party    was    formed.     In    Austria    a   political 
movement  was  organized  about  the  same  time  as  the 
German    party,    but    because    of    unequal    suffrage    it 
remained    weak  in    parliamentary    representation    until 
1907.     In  Russia   there    have   been    endless   ruptures, 
which  are  not  yet  healed.     All  sections  of  the  Russian 
movement    have  used    terrorist    methods.      The    anar- 
chists have  been  the  most  influential  among  the  peasants, 
while  the  Social  Democratic  Party,  with  a  Marxian  pro- 
gram, has  made  great  headway  in  the  industrial  centres. 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  31I 

In  England  the  working  men  have  only  recently  as  a 
body  adopted  the  independent  political  attitude.  Be- 
sides these  national  organizations  of  the  old  world  there 
are  now  branches  of  the  international  movement  in 
America,  in  Brazil,  in  Argentina,  in  Australia,  in  South 
Africa,  and  in  Japan. 

From  this  rapid  survey  of  the  spread  of  socialism 
throughout  the  world  some  idea  is  gained  of  the  organ- 
izing ability  and  untiring  labor  of  the  socialists  after  the 
death  of  the  International.  It  gives  at  the  same  time 
convincing  proof  of  the  practical  foresight  of  Marx,  and 
of  the  unifying  and  potent  character  of  his  program. 
The  Marxian  position  has  been  adopted  as  the  basis  of 
action  by  practically  all  socialist  political  organizations. 
The  doctrines  and  literature  are  everywhere  the  same, 
and  it  is  common  for  a  speech  of  Bebel,  Jaures,  or 
Guesde  to  be  translated  into  ten  or  more  different 
languages,  to  become  a  part  of  the  propaganda  in 
every  working-class  district  in  the  world.  This  work 
of  internationalizing  socialist  thought,  and  of  uniting 
the  workers  of  all  the  world  upon  a  common  pro- 
gram, is  certainly  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of 
modern  times,  and  the  credit  of  it  belongs  to  Marx. 
After  his  death  in  1883,  Engels  wrote  to  Liebknecht, 
"  Whatever  we  all  are,  we  are  through  him ;  and  what- 
ever the  movement  of  to-day  is,  it  is  through  his  theoreti- 
cal and  practical  work;  without  Jiim  we  should  still  be 
stuck  in  the  mire  of  confnsionr  It  is  a  just  tribute, 
as  not  even  the  most  bitter  opponent  of  Marx  could 
deny.  It  was  his  labor  that  brought  the  workers 
out  of  an  indescribable  chaos  of  discordant  and  con- 
tradictory doctrines,  and  it  was  his  disciples  that  won 
the  workers  from  the  disastrous  methods  of  conspiracy, 


312  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

insurrection,  and  riot  advocated  by  the  anarchists.  What 
seemed  in  the  day  of  the  old  International  to  be  wild 
destruction  and  petty  personal  warfare  on  the  part  of 
Marx  has  proved  to  have  been  the  necessary  demolition 
of  obstructing  and  demoralizing  policies  to  make  way 
for  the  stupendous  constructive  work  of  working-class 
organization. 

The  influence  of  Marx  has  been  so  dominant  in  the 
development  of  modern  socialism  that  its  critics  outside 
of  Germany  have  repeatedly  said  that  socialism  is  wholly 
a  German  product,  and  that  like  other  exotics  it  would 
not  take  firm  root  in  the  unfriendly  environment  of 
other  lands.  Events  have  proved  the  falsity  of  this 
prophecy;  but  that  socialism  is  German  in  origin  often 
goes  unquestioned.  Without  wishing  to  minimize  in 
the  least  the  immense  contributions  made  by  the 
Germans,  it  is  nevertheless  indisputable  that  socialism 
is  no  more  German  than  capitalism  is  English  or  the 
trusts  American.  They  are  all  essentially  international, 
and  owe  their  development  to  steam  power  and  the 
machine.  Every  nation  has  made  its  contribution  to 
the  upbuilding  of  both  capitalism  and  socialism.  It  is 
unquestionable  that  Marx  played  a  stupendous  role  in 
the  evolution  of  socialism,  both  as  a  philosophy  and  as  a 
political  movement,  and  the  German  organization  was 
the  first  concrete  working  out  of  his  political  views  ;  but 
the  second  fact  is  largely  accidental,  and  the  first  is  not 
proof  of  German  origin. 

Marx  was  no  more  a  German  than  Heine.  He  was 
born  in  Germany  of  Jewish  parents.  But  his  father 
taught  him  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  and  his  father-in- 
law.  Baron  von  Westphalen,  recited  to  him  by  heart 
Homer  and  Shakespeare.      To  Germany  he  owes  his 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  313 

exceptional  early  education,  and  to  Germany's  persecu- 
tion he  owes  a  life  of  exile  in  Holland,  Belgium,  France, 
and  England,  which  brought  him  into  intimate  contact 
with  all  the  great  revolutionists  of  his  time,  and  gave  to 
his  thought  its  international  character.  Marx  knew 
nearly  all  modern  languages,  and  he  wrote  in  English, 
articles  for  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  and  in  French, 
articles  for  various  continental  papers.  His  book  on 
the  Eastern  question  shows  the  world-wide  scope  of  his 
outlook  in  diplomacy  and  international  politics.  His 
economics  came  largely  from  England,  where  capitaHsm 
was  furthest  developed,  his  socialist  sympathies  from 
the  French  writers,  and  his  scientific  method  from  the 
Germans.  He  was  far  removed  from  the  national  or 
provincial  mind,  and  while  he  drew  his  materials  from 
the  science,  philosophy,  politics,  and  economics  of  all 
lands,  no  one  nation  can  claim  to  have  had  an  exclusive 
or  decisive  influence  upon  his  thought.  Marx's  critical 
capacity  and  logical  method  enabled  him  to  accept  the 
best  in  the  thought  of  the  early  French  sociahsts  with- 
out becoming  their  disciple,  of  benefiting  by  the  re- 
search of  the  early  English  economists  without  accepting 
their  conclusions,  of  making  the  most  of  the  thought  of 
others  without  necessarily  agreeing  with  their  convic- 
tions. He  was  synthetic,  assembling  the  views  of  others 
into  a  homogeneous  whole,  discarding  inconsistencies 
and  confusion,  and  working  out  into  a  logical  and 
methodical  system  material  much  of  which  others  had 
gathered. 

There  was  hardly  an  economist,  and  certainly  no  great 
socialist  thinker  of  any  country,  who  did  not  contribute 
something  through  Marx  to  modern  socialism.  The 
philosophy    of  socialism   owes  most  to  the  intellectual 


314  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

initiative  of  the  French,  in  whose  literature  we  find  in 
the  germ  nearly  all  of  its  basic  doctrines.  It  is  custom- 
ary to-day  for  socialists  to  look  upon  the  early  French 
thinkers  as  hardly  worthy  of  consideration,  and  many 
seem  to  feel  that  the  Marxian  philosophy  has  displaced 
and  rendered  valueless  the  work  of  this  immortal  school. 
In  great  degree  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Marx  classed 
them  as  Utopians ;  but  Marx,  in  using  this  word,  was 
referring  to  their  methods  and  tactics  and  not  to  that 
infinite  wealth  of  material  in  economics,  philosophy,  and 
history,  which  they  left  as  a  heritage  to  all  mankind. 
Marx  himself  drew  innumerable  riches  from  these  vast 
reservoirs.  St.  Simon  was  an  incomparable  historian  with 
a  truly  philosophic  mind  ;  Fourier  knew  commercialism 
to  its  roots,  and  so  early  and  so  thoroughly  grasped  the 
nature  of  modern  capitalism  that  one  must  look  back 
upon  his  analyses  and  prophecies  as  evidences  of  the 
almost  miraculous  critical  power  of  the  French  mind. 
Besides  these  two  great  socialists  there  was  Considerant, 
whose  power  of  portraying  the  evils  of  capitalism  has 
never  been  excelled.  These  are  but  three  of  the 
Frenchmen  to  whom  Marx  was  indebted,  and  one  need 
only  mention  others  such  as  Baboeuf,  Pierre  Leroux, 
Louis  Blanc,  Frangois  Vidal,  Pecqueur,  and  Cabet,  to 
convey  some  idea  of  the  greatness  of  this  early  school 
of  French  socialism.  Marx's  quarrel  with  the  French 
socialists  was  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  they  wanted 
to  create  an  artificial  society,  thus  substituting  sentimen- 
talism  for  the  natural  evolutionary  processes  which  were 
of  themselves  working  out  a  radical  social  reconstruc- 
tion. Above  all  they  had  no  confidence  in  the  working- 
class,  and  it  never  occurred  to  them  to  think  of  the 
workers   as    the    sole    revolutionary  and    regenerative 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  315 

force.  They  wanted  socialism  to  be  established  by  a 
class  that  did  not  desire  it,  for  a  class  sorely  in  need  of 
it,  but  incapable  of  achieving  it  for  themselves.  The 
scientific  views  of  Marx  would  not  harmonize  with  this 
sentimentalism  of  the  French  sociahsts,  and  although 
he  drew  plentifully  from  their  store  of  social  criticism 
and  historic  analysis,  he  departed  radically  from  their 
conclusion  as  to  the  method  to  be  pursued  in  the  up- 
building of  the  socialist  movement. 

The  English  contribution  to  socialism  is  entirely  in 
the  field  of  practice.  To  begin  with,  it  was  the  classic 
land  of  capitalism,  and  Liebknecht  has  said  that  Marx's 
"  Capital "  could  not  have  been  written  except  in  London. 
Side  by  side  with  capitalist  evolution  was  the  growing 
antagonism  of  the  workers,  which  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  more  clearly  defined  in  England  than  any- 
where else  in  Europe.  From  the  very  beginning  the  Eng- 
lish movement  has  been  a  perfect  example  of  the  class 
struggle,  and  a  striking  and  almost  fatalistic  working 
out  of  the  Marxian  view.  Even  when  it  was  limited 
to  trade  unionism,  it  was  still  the  best  demonstration  in 
Europe  of  an  organized  instinctive  association  of  the 
disinherited  produced  largely  by  the  force  of  economic 
conditions.  The  lack  of  idealism  in  the  English  move- 
ment disconcerted  Marx  and  Engels  less  than  it  does  the 
socialists  of  the  present  day  ;  and  as  late  as  1892  Engels 
wrote  that  the  working-class  in  England  "  moves,  like 
all  things  in  England,  with  a  slow  and  measured  step, 
with  hesitation  there  ;  with  more  or  less  unfruitful,  tenta- 
tive attempts  here  ;  it  moves  now  and  then  with  an  over- 
cautious mistrust  of  the  name  of  socialism,  ivJiilc  it 
gradually  absorbs  the  substance ;  *    and  the  movement 

*The  italics  are  mine. 


3l6  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

spreads  and  seizes  one  layer  of  the  workers  after  another. 
It  has  now  shaken  out  of  their  torpor  the  unskilled 
laborers  of  the  East  End  of  London,  and  we  all  know 
what  a  splendid  impulse  these  fresh  forces  have  given 
it  in  return.  And  if  the  pace  of  the  movement  is  not  up 
to  the  impatience  of  some  people,  let  them  not  forget 
that  it  is  the  working-class  which  keeps  alive  the  finest 
qualities  of  the  English  character,  and  that,  if  a  step  in 
advance  is  once  gained  in  England,  it  is,  as  a  rule,  never 
lost  afterward.  If  the  sons  of  the  old  Chartists  were 
not  quite  up  to  the  mark,  the  grandsons  bid  fair  to  be 
worthy  of  their  forefathers." 

That  Engels  should  grant  that  the  English  movement 
gradually  absorbs  the  substance  of  socialism  while  dis- 
trusting the  name  proves  how  thoroughly  he  understood 
the  EngHsh  character.  In  no  other  country  have  revo- 
lutions been  more  profound  and  more  democratically 
beneficial,  although,  as  Mathew  Arnold  says,  in  all  this 
struggle  the  English  have  proceeded  by  the  rule  of 
thumb.  What  was  intolerably  inconvenient  to  them 
they  have  suppressed,  not  because  it  was  irrational,  but 
because  it  was  practically  inconvenient.  They  have 
seldom  in  suppressing  the  evils  of  the  past  appealed  to 
pure  reason,  as  the  French  invariably  do,  but  always  if 
possible  to  some  precedent  or  form  or  letter,  which 
serves  as  a  convenient  instrument  for  their  purpose,  and 
which  saves  them  from  the  necessity  of  recurring  to 
general  principles.  "  They  have  thus  become,"  as  Ar- 
nold goes  on  to  say,  "  in  a  certain  sense,  of  all  people 
the  most  inaccessible  to  ideas,  and  the  most  impatient  of 
them ;  inaccessible  to  them,  because  of  their  want  of 
familiarity  with  them,  and  impatient  of  them  because 
they  have  got  on  so  well  without  them."     "There  is  a 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  317 

world  of  ideas,  and  there  is  a  world  of  practice,"  he 
continues.  "  The  French  are  fond  of  suppressing  the 
one,  and  the  EngHsh  the  other." 

If  the  French  have  contributed  to  socialism  a  wealth 
of  ideas,  and  the  English  an  impressive  instance  of  the 
inevitable  antagonism  of  the  workers  to  capitalism,  the 
Germans  have  contributed  something  equally  important. 
They  have  combined  the  idea  and  the  practice.  With- 
out the  instinctive  idealism  of  the  French,  or  the  instinc- 
tive practice  of  the  English,  they  are  both  doctrinaire 
and  practical.  The  Germans  were  the  first  to  build  up 
a  political  movement  of  the  workers  founded  upon  the 
doctrines  and  philosophy  of  socialism.  They  put  into 
the  concrete  the  socialist  views  of  Marx,  and  made  out 
of  a  doctrine  a  powerful  living  reality.  Combining  the 
practical  and  the  abstract,  the  methodical  and  scientific 
Germans  have  given  an  example  to  the  world  of  working- 
class  unity  and  solidarity.  Without  French  thought 
Marx  could  not  have  produced  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  modern  socialism ;  without  a  knowledge  of  English 
labor  organization  it  is  doubtful  if  he  would  have  per- 
ceived so  clearly  the  capacity  of  the  working-class  for 
organized  and  consistent  action ;  and  without  the  gift  of 
the  Germans  for  combining  the  idea  and  the  practice, 
modern  socialism  could  not  have  reached  its  present 
position  of  having  a  conscious  aim,  a  simple  and  precise 
doctrine,  and  an  organized  practical  movement. 

Marx  died  in  1883,  and,  therefore,  did  not  live  to  see 
the  new  International,  as  it  was  not  until  1889  that  the 
various  national  movements  decided  to  hold  a  joint  con- 
gress. In  that  year  nearly  400  delegates  from  twenty 
different  countries  met  in  Paris  to  express  their  mutual 
accord  and  to  work  out  some  plan  for  international  or- 


3l8  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ganizatlon.  Two  years  later  another  congress  was  held 
in  Brussels,  with  delegates  from  every  country  of  Europe, 
America,  and  Australia,  and  in  1893  an  imposing  gath- 
ering assembled  at  Zurich.  At  the  London  congress  in 
1896  an  important  question  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
delegates.  The  anarchists  had  begun  again  to  insinuate 
themselves  into  the  movement,  with  the  hope  of  turning  it 
away  from  peaceful  and  parliamentary  methods.  After 
a  heated  discussion  as  to  whether  or  not  they  should  be 
admitted,  it  was  finally  decided  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote  to  exclude  them  altogether ;  and  to  exclude  them  is 
now  the  avowed  policy  in  all  countries.  The  congress 
held  four  years  later  was  not  important,  and  I  have  re- 
viewed briefly  in  another  chapter  the  chief  debate  which 
took  place  at  Amsterdam  in  1904.  That  congress 
marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  modern  socialism.  Its 
greatest  accomplishment  was  the  unifying  of  the  social- 
ists in  France.  To  achieve  this  result,  it  was  forced, 
though  almost  against  its  will,  to  adopt  a  policy  of  inter- 
national socialist  tactics,  which,  it  is  reasonable  to  think, 
prevented  a  serious  crisis,  and  perhaps  a  rupture  in  the 
European  movement. 

A  notable  event  occurred  on  the  opening  day  of  the 
Amsterdam  congress.  After  Troelstra  had  spoken  in 
the  name  of  the  socialists  of  the  city,  Van  Kol  followed 
with  a  word  of  welcome.  With  that  fine  emotion  so 
characteristic  of  this  old  warrior,  he  turned  to  the  dele- 
gates from  Russia  and  Japan,  then  at  war,  and  warmly 
complimented  the  sociaHsts  of  both  countries  upon  their 
courage  in  pronouncing  themselves  against  the  war  when 
it  was  at  its  greatest  heat.  Katayama,  the  Japanese  dele- 
gate, and  Plechanoff,  the  Russian,  grasped  hands  amidst 
thunders  of  applause  from  the  delegates,  who   had  all 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  319 

arisen  to  their  feet.  When  Van  Kol  had  finished, 
Katayama,  mounting  to  the  tribune,  was  given  a  tre- 
mendous ovation.  His  words  describing  the  unhappy- 
condition  of  the  workers  in  Asia  were  listened  to  in  re- 
ligious silence,  many  of  the  delegates  standing  while  he 
spoke.  He  deplored  the  war,  and  rejoiced  especially 
to  have  been  seated  at  the  side  of  a  delegate  who  repre- 
sented the  workers  of  Russia.  He  expressed  the  hope 
that  the  time  would  soon  come  when  not  only  the  war  of 
the  extreme  Orient  would  be  at  an  end,  but  when  the 
state  of  war  which  capitalism  implies  would  be  at  an 
end  also.  Following  him,  Plechanoff  saluted  the  dele- 
gates of  the  International,  and  especially  his  Japanese 
brother.  He  said  it  was  not  the  Russian  people  who 
had  made  war  upon  the  Japanese.  It  was  the  worst 
enemy  of  the  Russian  people,  the  imperial  government. 
After  reviewing  shortly  the  conditions  in  his  stricken 
country,  he  sat  down  amidst  an  enthusiastic  demonstra- 
tion. The  editor  of  the  proceedings  of  the  congress 
says:  "  An  untranslatable  impression  of  grandeur  and  of 
force  pervaded  the  inaugural  session.  The  three  presi- 
dential addresses  at  once  elevated  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  the  delegates  to  the  lofty  and  serene  conception  of  an 
international  which  will  assure  by  solidarity  and  by 
science  the  peace  of  the  world  and  the  happiness  of 
all." 

From  the  first  congress  of  the  new  International  in 
1889,  to  that  of  1904,  the  socialist  movement  realized  an 
immense  progress.  Van  Kol,  in  his  address,  recalled 
the  fact  that  the  old  International  had  gathered  for  the 
last  time  at  the  Hague  in  1872.  A  little  caf6  was  suffi- 
cient for  all  their  purposes.  At  Amsterdam  twenty- 
three  nations  were  represented  by  about  450  delegates, 


320  SOCIALISTS   AT  WORK 

and  the  success,  the  harmony,  and  the  increasing  power 
exercised  by  socialism,  encouraged  the  delegates  to  be- 
lieve that  the  movement  was  strong  enough  to  storm  the 
citadel  of  reaction  ;  it  was,  therefore,  decided  to  hold  the 
following  congress  in  1907  in  some  city  of  the  German 
empire. 

Nothing  could  be  more  significant  of  the  growing 
international  power  of  the  movement  than  the  fact  that 
despite  the  intense  hatred  with  which  the  emperor  and 
the  bureaucracy  view  the  German  party,  they  were, 
nevertheless,  powerless  to  prevent  it  from  holding  a 
great  international  meeting  upon  German  soil.  Little 
more  than  a  decade  before,  every  German  social  demo- 
crat was  an  outlaw,  and  although  the  legal  status  had 
since  changed,  the  attitude  of  the  upper  classes  had  not. 
Again  and  again  it  was  rumored  that  the  Interna- 
tional gathering  would  not  be  permitted.  There  was  a 
certain  thrill  of  excitement,  therefore,  and  a  degree  of 
uncertainty,  when  nearly  a  thousand  delegates,  repre- 
senting thirty  nationahties,  arrived  at  Stuttgart. 

On  Sunday,  the  day  before  the  official  opening  of  the 
congress,  workmen  with  their  wives  and  children  began 
to  arrive  from  the  neighboring  towns.  Bands  and 
singing  societies  paraded,  carrying  before  them  their 
treasured  red  flags.  Thousands  upon  thousands  came, 
and  before  the  noon  hour  the  streets  leading  out  to  a 
great  open  space  near  the  city  were  lined  with  men, 
women,  and  children.  When  I  arrived  at  about  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  between  forty  and  fifty  thou- 
sand people  had  assembled  to  hear  the  socialist  orators 
from  all  the  world.  Ten  or  twelve  platforms  had  been 
erected,  and  upon  each  was  a  little  group  of  the  most 
distinguished   militants  in   the   movement.     Over   this 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  .         32 1 

mighty  throng,  in  many  languages,  came  the  voices  of 
the  great  agitators,  bearing  a  common  message ;  and 
although  we  could  not  always  understand  the  words, 
we  knew  their  meaning  and  were  glad. 

On  the  following  day  the  delegates  assembled  in  the 
largest  meeting-place  in  Stuttgart.  The  Germans  had 
organized  the  congress  in  their  characteristically  efficient 
manner,  and  tables  were  arranged  about  the  halls  with 
banners  indicating  the  seats  of  the  various  delegations. 
It  was  an  impressive  sight,  when  they  had  all  gathered, 
to  look  about  the  great  hall  and  to  see  assembled,  from 
every  industrial  district  of  the  world,  the  extraordinary 
men  who,  in  the  face  of  incredible  obstacles,  and  despite 
the  opposition  of  every  government,  had  forced  socialism 
into  its  present  position  of  power  and  influence.  Nearly 
all  the  older  men  had  been  in  prison  or  had  undergone 
years  of  exile,  and  some  of  them,  like  Hermann  Greulich, 
—  that  sterlingold  Swiss  socialist  with  the  fine  white  head 
that  resembles  Tolstoy's,  —  had  even  been  stoned  by  the 
workers  themselves.  There  were  300  representatives 
from  Germany,  about  a  hundred  from  France,  and  1 50 
from  England.  North  and  South  America,  Australia, 
and  all  the  smaller  nations  of  Europe  were  represented, 
and  there  were  two  delegates  from  Japan  and  two  from 
India.  Nearly  every  one  was  a  person  of  consequence 
in  the  working-class  movement.  About  a  hundred  were 
members  of  European  parliaments,  many  of  them  rep- 
resented important  unions,  and  there  were  few  that 
did  not  speak  for  thousands  of  organized  men.  One 
delegate  alone  represented  a  million  workers.  The 
following  table  gives  the  number  of  votes  obtained  by 
the  various  national  parties  at  the  last  elections.  I  am 
unable  to  find  the  vote  for  Russia,  although  the  socialists 


322  SOCIALISTS   AT  WORK 

elected  132  members  to  the  second  Duma.  In  Hungary 
the  socialists  have  a  great  following,  but  little  electoral 
strength,  as  the  suffrage  is  restricted  :  — 

Votes 

Germany,  1907 3,258,968 

Austria,  1907 1,041,948 

France,  1906       .         .         .         ...         .         .         .  900,000 

Belgium,  1904 469,094 

United  States,  1904 409,230 

Great  Britain,  1906 350,000 

Finland,  1907 330,000 

Italy,  1904 320,000 

Denmark,  1906  ........  77,000 

Switzerland,  1905 70,000 

Holland,  1905 65,743 

Norway,  1906      . 45,000 

Sweden,  1905 35.000 

Spain,  1904         ........  29,000 

Chili,  1906 18,000 

Bulgaria,  1903 9,000 

Argentine,  1906           .......  3*50° 

Servia,  1906 3.133 

Total  7,434,616 

The  discussion  was  carried  on  in  three  languages,  and 
despite  the  brilHant  quahties  of  many  of  the  speakers 
the  sessions  became  rather  tedious.  Five  important 
matters  were  discussed :  women's  suffrage,  emigration, 
the  colonial  question,  the  relation  between  the  trade 
unions  and  the  party,  and  militarism.  They  were  all 
practical  questions,  which  was  significant  of  the  enormous 
change  in  the  socialist  movement  during  the  last  few 
years.  No  difference  of  opinion  manifested  itself  con- 
cerning the  doctrines  of  the  party,  and  the  time  of  the 
congress  was  entirely  occupied  in  earnest  effort  to  come 
to  some  agreement  upon  these  questions  of  immediate 
importance. 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  323 

Infinitely  the  most  vital  from  the  European  standpoint 
was  militarism,  and  for  five  days  the  ablest  debaters  at 
the  congress  were  engaged  in  the  difficult  problem  of 
drafting  a  resolution  which  would  satisfy  the  various 
sections.  The  newspapers  at  the  time  printed  reports 
which  exaggerated  the  differences.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  views  of  the  mass  of  party  members  do  not  differ  in 
any  fundamental  principle.  They  are  all  anti-militarist, 
and  they  are  all  agreed  to  use  their  utmost  influence 
against  war,  and  to  do  all  possible,  inside  and  outside  of 
parliament,  to  prevent  the  increase  of  armies  and  navies. 
But  the  French  evolve  theories  out  of  every  situation  in 
which  they  become  engaged,  and  certainly  anti-militar- 
ism does  not  mean  to  the  Germans  what  it  means  to 
Herve ;  namely,  anti-patriotism.  Both  Jaures  and 
Bebel  emphasized  the  priceless  value  to  a  people  of  its 
national  character.  The  main  difference  between  them 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  French  are  likely  to  be  more 
extreme  in  their  expression  and  more  violent  and  im- 
practical in  their  methods  than  the  Germans.  Victor 
Adler,  the  able  leader  of  the  Austrian  socialists,  summed 
up  the  matter  in  these  effective  words :  "  We  Germans 
are  not  fond  of  empty  threats.  We  are  prepared  to 
go  further  than  our  promises.  We  cannot  and  will  not 
say  what  we  should  do,  but  you  may  rely  upon  it  that 
we  should  act  with  as  much  energy  as  any  one  else." 

The  importance  of  the  International  Congress  did  not 
lie  in  its  debates  and  resolutions,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to 
go  into  details  concerning  them.  Certainly  nothing  was 
accompHshed  at  Stuttgart  that  can  compare  with  the  res- 
olution on  tactics  passed  by  the  delegates  at  Amsterdam. 
But  the  gathering  was  significant,  profoundly  significant. 
That  a  thousand   delegates,  representing   the  working 


324  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

men  of  thirty  nations  and  close  on  to  ten  million  voters, 
should  confer  for  one  week  together  is  perhaps  the 
most  impressive  event  of  modern  times.  It  suggests  the 
beginning  of  great  things,  and  presages  development  of 
stupendous  moment.  Think  of  German,  French,  Italian, 
and  English  working  men,  living  under  governments 
that,  armed  with  every  conceivable  form  of  murderous 
and  destructive  apparatus,  glare  at  each  other  across 
their  frontiers  and  spread  hatred  and  suspicion  among 
the  masses,  that  spend  millions  upon  millions  for  for- 
tresses, military  manoeuvres,  and  navies,  —  think  of 
them  coming  together  to  grasp  each  other  by  the 
hand,  to  march  behind  one  flag,  and  to  call  each  other 
comrade.  Their  forebears  were  for  centuries  at  each 
other's  throats,  massacring,  pillaging,  and  conquering. 
A  word  from  their  kings  and  emperors  sufficed  to 
create  rivers  of  blood  —  here  they  were  at  Stuttgart,  in 
the  face  of  their  opposing  governments,  inspired  by  a 
common  idea,  and  planning  to  fight  for  instead  of  against 
each  other.  Kings,  emperors,  and  ministers,  as  well  as 
the  entire  press  of  the  world,  were  discussing  the  Hague 
Peace  Conference,  and  chose  to  think  it  significant. 
Many  of  the  continental  rulers  would  have  done  any- 
thing to  prevent  these  working  men  assembling  to 
declare  themselves  comrades,  and  to  discuss  seriously 
as  comrades  universal  peace.  The  discussion  of  war 
and  peace  at  Stuttgart  was  not  in  itself  of  especial  im- 
portance; but  the  week's  fellowship,  expressive  as  it 
was  of  universal  brotherhood,  —  that  was  significant. 

A  flood  of  interesting  thoughts  surged  in  upon  one 
attending  that  memorable  gathering  of  men  from  all 
lands.  The  want  of  a  common  language  was  agonizing 
at  times,  and  one  often  grasped  the  hand  of  a  comrade 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  •  325 

without  being  able  to  speak  a  word  of  greeting.  De- 
spite every  evidence  of  unity  of  purpose  and  cordial  fel- 
lowship, the  national  characteristics  were  strong.  The 
national  groups  were  differentiated  one  from  another,  so 
that  they  seemed  almost  well-defined  individuals,  thus 
affording  a  rare  opportunity  to  observe  traits  of  national 
psychology.  There  were  the  French  with  their  fine 
idealism,  worshipping  the  abstract  as  something  human, 
concrete,  and  tangible.  Nervous  and  passionate,  they 
permeated  the  entire  gathering  with  their  electric  men- 
tality. What  a  contrast  were  the  scientific,  doctrinaire, 
erudite  Germans,  whose  methodical  efficiency  was  every- 
where in  evidence.  The  gifted  Belgians  seemed  at 
times  to  be  Frenchmen,  at  other  times  stolid  and  prac- 
tical Germans.  The  slow-moving,  sluggish  man  of  the 
north  had  little  to  say  and  much  to  show  for  his  quiet 
and  effective  labor.  Fair  and  big  and  phlegmatic,  he 
was  the  counterpart  of  the  dark,  hot-blooded,  emotional 
Italian  whose  nimble  mind  and  imaginative  flights  car- 
ried him  to  all  sorts  of  excesses.  And  then  there  was 
the  sad,  brooding,  spiritual  Russian,  whose  sacrifices 
know  no  bounds  while  the  ideal  is  unattained. 

These  differences  in  national  psychology  convey  some 
impression  of  how  varied  an  edifice  socialism  will  be 
when  finally  it  comes  into  being.  One  cannot  doubt 
the  socialism  of  Italy  will  be  very  different  from  that 
of  England.  I  can  even  imagine  that  the  socialism 
acceptable  to  the  men  of  the  north  will  be  intolerable 
to  the  men  of  the  south.  There  must  be  a  common 
foundation,  if  socialism  is  to  weld  the  peoples  together, 
and  such  a  foundation  exists  in  the  doctrines  and  fun- 
damental principles  of  socialism.  But  this  basis  resem- 
bles the  earth  itself,  in  that  upon  it  must  be  built  edifices 


326  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

that  will  vary  in  use  and  beauty  according  to  the  gifts 
of  the  associated  builders.  Socialism  will  vary  as  our 
democracy  and  political  institutions,  our  literature  and 
cathedrals,  in  short  as  the  peoples  themselves  vary.  For 
the  present  the  international  movement  signifies  a  com- 
mon battle  against  capitalism.  It  means  to  destroy 
wage-slavery,  and  to  raise  what  are  now  the  subject 
classes  into  a  position  of  dominant  influence.  In  that, 
there  is  no  variation  in  doctrine  or  belief.  It  involves 
war  to  the  end  against  the  destructive  forms  of  compe- 
tition which  create  our  modern  chaos,  our  contrasting 
wealth  and  poverty,  and  which  make  of  the  masses  of 
men  mere  pawns  in  the  great  international  game  of 
industrialism,  commercialism,  and  war. 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN    OTHER   COUNTRIES 
(supplementary   chapter) 

Russia.  —  It  is  difficult  to  give  any  concise  statement  of  the 
position  of  socialism  in  Russia,  because  of  the  tremendous 
upheavals  of  recent  years.  Suffice  to  say  that  the  brief  and 
eventful  career  of  the  Duma  has  clearly  demonstrated  that 
under  normal  conditions,  and  with  universal  suffrage,  the 
socialists  would  be  in  possession  of  governmental  power. 
Never  was  there  a  time  when  the  autocracy  had  to  fight  so 
strenuously  to  preserve  its  privileges,  and  even  its  existence. 
Panic-stricken,  the  authorities  have  gone  to  the  extreme  in 
their  efforts  to  suppress  the  various  nationalities  they  have 
conquered ;  to  propagate  race  and  religious  antagonism,  in 
order  to  obscure  from  the  toiling  masses  the  real  cause  of 
their  misery ;  and  to  stamp  out  by  the  most  horrible  methods 
the  spirit  of  revolution. 

The  first  traces  of  the  socialist  movement  were  apparent 
in  the  forties,  but  for  thirty  years  it  was  confined  to  small 
groups  of  university  men  and  students,  with  a  few  remarkable 
working  men.  About  the  time  Bakounine  was  agitating  in 
Western  Europe,  and  the  International  was  effecting  working- 
class  organization,  young  men  and  women  of  the  more  pros- 
perous classes  left  their  families  and  fortunes  in  order  to 
propagate  socialism  among  the  people.  The  Russians,  es- 
pecially the  peasant  class,  have  always  had  communist  aspira- 
tions, and  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  was  to  them  the 
reahzation  of  a  long-cherished  ideal.  Nevertheless  the  spread 
of  socialistic  ideas  was  at  first  very  slow.  The  various  socialist 
circles  were  broken  up  again  and  again  by  the  government, 

327 


328  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

and  their  members  banished  or  imprisoned.  This  persecution 
led  to  the  adoption  of  terrorist  tactics  on  the  part  of  the 
socialists  for  about  four  years,  culminating  in  the  death  of 
Alexander  II  in  March,  1881.  The  coming  of  industrialism 
in  its  most  intense  form  marked  an  epoch  in  socialist  propa- 
ganda. What  with  the  opening  of  the  coal  and  iron  fields  in 
the  South,  and  the  textile  trades  in  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow, 
Nijni  Novgorod,  and  Lodz,  something  like  two  million  people 
were  drawn  off  the  land  and  concentrated  in  factories.  Con- 
sequently it  needed  but  few  years  of  capitahst  exploitation  for 
them  to  realize  class-consciousness.  Beginning  with  the  great 
fight  of  the  weavers  in  St.  Petersburg  in  1896,  strike  after 
strike  took  place  all  over  the  country,  skilfully  engineered  by 
the  socialists,  up  to  the  memorable  general  strike  of  1903; 
which,  commencing  in  the  South,  spread  until  a  quarter  of  a 
million  workers  had  ceased  production.  The  industrial  crisis 
which  had  set  in,  however,  rendered  strikes  to  a  considerable 
extent  ineffective,  and  the  starving  populace  had  nothing  left 
to  do  but  demonstrate  in  the  streets,  with  the  consequence 
that  massacres  by  the  soldiery  were  frequent.  Amid  the 
general  ferment  the  revolutionary  movement,  in  which  the 
socialists  were  the  directing  force,  spread  with  marvellous 
rapidity. 

There  are  three  principal  socialist  organizations  in  Russia  : 
the  Socialist  Revolutionary  Party,  who  accept  terrorism  as  a 
transitory  necessity ;  the  Social  Democratic  Party,  pure  Marx- 
ists, advocating  the  class  movement  as  against  individual  ac- 
tion ;  and  the  Bund,  composed  exclusively  of  working  Jews. 
Roughly  it  might  be  said  that  the  two  former  are  divided 
principally  on  the  matter  of  terrorist  tactics  and  concerning 
the  land  question.  With  regard  to  the  latter  problem,  the 
Social  Democrats,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of  the  industrial 
workers  of  the  towns,  favor  only  the  expropriation  of  large 
landowners.  In  this  respect  they  might  be  considered  op- 
portunist in  their  tactics,  as  they  do  not  want  to  alienate  the 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  329 

sympathies  of  the  small  holders.  On  the  other  hand  the 
Socialist  Revolutionary  Party  stands  for  the  out  and  out  ex- 
propriation of  the  land,  and  events  have  demonstrated  that 
the  peasants  are  fully  in  accord  with  their  advanced  agrarian 
program.  Says  Mr.  English  Walling  :  "  Whether  or  not  this 
program  succeeds  depends  largely  on  the  action  of  the  Social 
Democrats.  The  government  and  the  bourgeois  parties  are 
already  doing  everything  in  their  power  to  break  up  the  vil- 
lage commune  and  increase  the  number  of  small  proprietors. 
If  this  process  is  not  stopped,  the  number  of  small  proprietors 
will  be  doubled  within  a  few  years,  complete  nationalization 
will  have  become  impossible,  and  Russia  will  have  to  wait 
decades  or  generations  for  the  social  revolution."  The  So- 
cialist Revolutionists  say  that  the  signal  for  the  expropriation 
of  the  land  will  be  the  signal  for  the  general  insurrection  of  the 
people.  But  while  preparing  for  this,  they  will  not  cease  the 
daily  struggle.  They  claim  that  history  has  justified  their 
terrorism,  both  individual  and  collective.  And,  moreover, 
"  We  shall  not  cease  to  use  terrorist  tactics  in  the  political 
struggle  until  the  day  when  shall  be  realized  the  institutions 
making  the  will  of  the  people  the  source  of  power  and  legis- 
lation." 

In  view  of  the  tragedy  of  October,  1905,  the  socialists 
deemed  it  wiser  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  retard  any  further 
open  struggle  until  the  masses,  and  especially  the  agricultural 
population,  should  have  been  properly  organized.  Unfortu- 
nately the  march  of  events  did  not  obey  their  will,  and  the 
insurrection  of  Moscow  broke  out.  However,  this  served  to 
prove  the  possibility  of  an  armed  uprising,  because  during  the 
eight  days  of  barricade  fighting,  the  government  trembled  for 
its  existence.  xA.nd  when  the  revolutionists  abandoned  their 
positions,  having  served  their  purpose,  the  government,  imagin- 
ing that  the  revolution  had  played  itself  out,  burst  into  a 
frenzy  of  reaction  and  persecution.  "  But  only  the  blind  could 
think  that  the  colossal  social  and  political  crisis  which  affects 


330  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

our  immense  country  could  be  closed  within  the  limits  of  two 
or  three  months." 

Considering  it  fruitless,  the  Socialist  Revolutionary  Party 
decided  not  to  take  part  in  the  elections  to  the  first  Duma, 
but  to  apply  themselves  energetically  to  opening  the  eyes  of 
the  people  to  the  mock  constitution  that  had  been  set  up  ;  and 
while  the  government  was  engaged  in  managing  the  elections, 
the  socialists  had  exceptional  liberty  in  their  propaganda. 
Books,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers  were  published  by  the 
million;  the  committees  which  had  been  smashed  up  were 
reconstituted ;  and  all  together  the  socialists  had  a  great  day. 
However,  notwithstanding  their  statements  that  they  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Duma,  revolutionists  were  elected 
by  the  people,  and  a  strong  labor  group  was  formed.  This  it 
was  decided  to  make  use  of  in  the  furtherance  of  the  socialist 
cause.  But  the  first  Duma,  in  which  so  many  hopes  had  been 
placed  by  the  people,  only  lasted  ninety  days ;  and  the  interval 
between  the  first  and  second  parliaments  proved  to  be  one 
of  the  blackest  periods  of  unbridled  government  terrorism, 
pogroms,  courtmartials,  and  executions.  The  authorities  were 
absolutely  ferocious  because  the  Duma  had  not  been  amenable 
to  their  power,  and  as  usual  their  ferocity  was  greatest  against 
the  socialists,  who  were  obliged  to  retort  with  acts  of  terrorism. 
The  flower  of  the  socialist  forces  perished  in  the  prisons,  in 
Siberia,  and  on  the  scaffold.  The  average  existence  of  a  com- 
mittee was  two  months ;  of  a  journal,  two  numbers.  But  the 
influence  of  the  socialists  grew  enormously,  thousands  of  meet- 
ings were  held,  and  a  huge  amount  of  literature  was  distributed 
in  secret. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  council  of  the  party  in  November,  1906, 
it  was  resolved  to  take  part  in  the  election  for  the  second 
Duma ;  considering  it  now  compatible  with  their  tactics,  as 
the  presence  of  members  of  the  party  in  parliament  could  be 
utilized  for  propaganda  purposes.  The  war  and  famine  had 
favored  the  exploits  of  bands  of  thieves,  and  their  depreda- 


THE   MOVEMENT  IN   OTHER  COUNTRIES  33 1 

tions  were  baptized  with  the  name  of  "  expropriations."  As 
this  was  hkely  seriously  to  compromise  the  sociaUst  move- 
ment, the  council  considered  it  necessary  to  take  some  action 
in  the  matter.  Members  were,  therefore,  invited  to  abstain 
from  the  expropriation  of  private  goods,  or  goods  belonging 
to  private  societies.  However,  confiscation  of  all  goods  de- 
tained by  the  Czarist  government  was  admissible,  but  this  must 
be  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  regional  committees, 
who  would  restitute  all  funds  to  the  central  committee  for  use 
for  the  common  good.  The  regional  committees  were  more- 
over invited  to  organize  the  masses  by  military  methods. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  achievement  of  the  party  in  the  second 
Duma  was  in  the  matter  of  their  agrarian  measure,  put  forward 
for  the  second  time.  In  the  first  parliament  this  project,  which 
claims  the  socialization  of  the  land,  only  received  33  votes;  in 
the  second  it  received  105,  which  included  the  peasant  depu- 
ties. So  that  the  agrarian  program  of  the  party  has  been 
indorsed  by  the  whole  progressive  peasant  population. 

Among  the  soldiers  and  sailors  the  socialist  propaganda  has 
made  great  progress,  as  is  shown  by  the  perpetual  unrest  and 
frequent  mutinies  in  those  two  services.  Even  the  Cossacks 
have  commenced  to  reflect  and  comprehend  the  horror  of 
the  role  they  are  made  to  play.  Very  encouraging  also  is  the 
progress  among  the  boatmen  and  other  employees  along  the 
Volga,  and  the  great  railroad  union. 

The  confidence  that  the  autocracy  had  put  in  the  peasants 
in  the  first  and  second  Dumas  was  altogether  misplaced.  In- 
stead of  supporting  reaction,  the  peasants  sent  their  own 
representatives  to  parliament.  The  government,  therefore, 
changed  completely  the  "  constitution,"  so  that  the  effect  of 
the  third  election  to  the  Duma  is  that  an  absolute  majority  is 
given  into  the  hands  of  135,000  of  landed  proprietors  and  rich 
bourgeois.  Thus  the  parliament  is  composed  of  the  privileged 
classes  and  their  creatures.  The  new  electoral  law  has  given 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  seats  to  the  nobles,  one-fourth  to 


332  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

the  rich  bourgeois,  leaving  only  a  twentieth  to  the  other  classes. 
The  erstwhile  socialist  members  have  been  sent  to  Siberia  or 
to  prison.     And  the  struggle  goes  on. 

Austria.  —  Because  of  the  multiplicity  of  languages  within 
the  empire  the  Austrian  Social  Democratic  Party  is  composed 
of  several  national  groups  —  Germans,  Czechs,  Poles,  Italians, 
Slavs,  and  Ruthenians  —  autonomous  to  a  large  extent,  but 
forming  what  has  been  called  a  "  Little  International.''  Defi- 
nite organization  was  achieved  at  the  close  of  the  eighties. 
The  strong  trade  unions  were  driven  by  autocratic  oppression 
into  political  action,  and  they  became  affiliated  with  the  so- 
cialist party.  The  trade  unions  now  make  a  great  point  of 
their  social  democratic  character,  and  vigorously  repudiate  the 
"  neutrality  "  idea.  But  the  general  situation  in  Austria  was 
until  recently  most  unpromising.  The  unsettled  relations 
between  Austria  and  Hungary,  the  animosity  fostered  by  the 
various  nationalist  parties,  the  frequent  massacres  of  striking 
laborers,  had  a  depressing  effect  upon  industrial  conditions, 
and  starvation  was  prevalent.  In  Galicia  especially,  thousands 
died  of  starvation  every  year,  while  the  blind  revolts  of  the 
proletariat  were  ruthlessly  crushed  by  the  soldiery.  Because 
of  the  restricted  suffrage,  and  the  amount  of  electoral  thimble- 
rigging that  was  possible,  there  was  httle  hope  for  the  people 
in  the  ballot-box.  Besides,  open  intimidation  at  the  polls  by 
the  police  was  general.  Nevertheless,  in  1901  the  socialists 
assembled  780,000  votes,  and  elected  ten  members  to  the 
Reichsrath.  The  group,  maintaining  a  strict  independence  in 
parliament,  and  the  party  outside,  concentrated  their  efforts  on 
the  campaign  for  universal  suffrage.  The  propaganda,  mainly 
oral  because  of  the  illiteracy  of  the  people,  was  superbly  organ- 
ized, and  the  workers  generally  gave  them  enthusiastic  support. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  intense  feeling  at  Vienna,  so  disgusted 
were  the  printers  at  having  to  set  up  articles  abusing  the 
socialists  and  universal  suffrage,  that  they  struck  work  and  tied 
up  six  of  the  big  capitalist  newspapers. 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  333 

The  fight  for  and  the  winning  of  universal  manhood  suffrage 
in  Austria  is  one  of  the  brightest  pages  in  the  history  of  social- 
ism. The  granting  of  a  "  constitution  "  in  Russia,  and  the  suf- 
frage fight  going  on  in  Hungary,  had  a  stimulating  effect,  and 
at  the  annual  congress  of  the  party  in  1905,  all  sections  were 
eager  for  battle.  It  was  while  the  congress  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  discussion  of  the  question  that  the  Czar's  constitutional 
manifesto  was  published  in  Vienna;  and  the  delegates  jumped 
to  their  feet,  sang  songs  of  battle,  and  made  a  solemn  declara- 
tion that  they  would  fight  to  the  end  whatever  the  issue,  even 
if  it  meant  a  general  strike.  The  same  evening  more  than 
30,000  working  men  and  women  united  in  a  great  demonstra- 
tion before  parliament  and  the  Hofburg,  Enthusiastic  meet- 
ings followed  in  all  the  towns  and  provinces,  and  colHsions 
with  the  soldiers  and  pohce  were  frequent.  The  minister 
Gautsch,  who  had  previously  ridiculed  the  idea  of  universal 
suffrage,  was  panic-stricken,  and  made  promise  of  electoral 
reform  before  the  next  general  election.  On  the  28th  of  No- 
vember, 1905,  parliament  reassembled,  and  the  working  class 
generally  declared  a  hoHday  throughout  the  empire.  Every- 
where they  had  meetings  and  processions,  and  at  Vienna  a 
quarter  of  a  million  working  men  and  women  bearing  red  flags 
paraded  before  parliament.  It  was  a  day  never  to  be  forgotten, 
and  created  a  profound  impression  of  the  enormous  influence 
of  socialism.  A  deputation  of  workmen  waited  upon  the  presi- 
dents of  the  council  and  the  two  chambers,  and  made  a  request 
for  immediate  electoral  reform.  In  reply,  Baron  Gautsch  an- 
nounced the  deposit  of  a  process  based  upon  universal  suffrage. 

But  it  was  not  until  February,  1906,  that  the  government  took 
any  steps  to  fulfil  its  pledge  ;  and  then  it  was  immediately 
obvious  that  they  were  not  going  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the 
socialists.  They  refused  to  women  the  right  to  vote.  Even 
the  limited  measure  provoked  the  resistance  of  the  privileged 
classes,  and  showed  that  more  vigorous  tactics  were  necessary 
if  the  socialists  were  not  to  be  again  betrayed.     To  display  any 


334  "  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

weakness  on  the  part  of  the  proletariat  at  this  moment  would 
be  to  lose  all  that  they  had  been  fighting  for.  The  campaign 
was,  therefore,  continued  with  greater  energy,  and  the  excite- 
ment of  the  populace  was  such  that  the  government  was  stirred 
to  action.  The  bourgeois  fought  strenuously  against  the  pro- 
posed reform,  and  then  the  socialists  had  seriously  to  consider 
whether  they  should  not  have  recourse  to  the  general  strike. 
They  decided  to  commence  with  a  strike  of  three  days  in  Vienna 
as  an  experiment.  All  the  preparations  were  perfectly  made, 
down  to  the  last  detail,  and  at  a  given  signal  all  work  would  have 
ceased.  The  government  was  quite  au  courantmih.  the  situation, 
and  had  taken  precautionary  measures.  The  order  to  mobilize 
for  the  occupation  of  the  stations  and  factories  was  given ; 
while  in  the  city  a  large  military  force  was  massed.  But  the 
threat  of  the  strike  was  sufficient.  A  special  commission  of  the 
Reichsrath  was  set  seriously  to  work,  and  on  the  21st  of  July 
there  was  a  repartition  of  the  representation  by  nationality. 
The  greatest  difficulty  had  been  overcome.  But  in  the  autumn 
the  enemies  of  universal  suffrage  tried  again  to  thwart  the  peo- 
ple by  introducing  a  system  of  plural  voting  which  would  have 
been  completely  subversive.  However,  the  danger  was  again 
averted  by  the  prompt  action  of  the  socialists  in  arousing  the 
public  feeling,  and  the  first  of  December,  1906,  saw  the  new 
measure,  giving  all  men  over  twenty-four  the  right  to  vote, 
adopted  in  the  chamber  of  representatives,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing month  by  the  upper  house. 

The  work  to  which  the  socialists  had  consecrated  long  years 
of  effort  was  crowned  with  success  at  the  elections  in  May,  which 
will  live  in  the  memories  of  all.  Instead  of  only  eleven  seats  in 
parliament,  the  socialists  captured  no  less  than  87;  such 
old  militants  as  Victor  Adler,  David,  and  Ellenbogen  receiving 
enormous  majorities.  The  socialist  vote  amounted  to 
1,041,948,  nearly  a  third  of  the  total  vote  cast.  The  Christian 
Socialists,  who  are  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Social  Democratic 
Party,  and  have  httle  in  common  with  socialism   except  the 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  335 

name,  obtained  96  members  with  only  722,314  votes,  and  the 
Czechs  obtained  83  members  with  only  600,909  votes.  But 
although  in  some  parts  the  socialists  had  failed  to  touch 
the  agricultural  population,  the  various  nationalist  parties  were 
almost  crushed  out ;  which  in  itself  is  a  great  step  in  ad- 
vance. A  coalition  was  immediately  formed  against  the 
socialists,  but  the  significance  of  the  elections  was  made  ap- 
parent in  the  emperor's  address,  which  promised  a  wonder- 
ful list  of  social  reforms.  The  Women's  Social  Democratic 
Party,  controlling  the  women's  trade  unions,  was  of  great 
aid  during  the  fight,  and  the  effective  work  done  among  the 
men  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  two  years  the  number  of 
trade  unionists  was  increased  from  180,000  to  over  half  a 
million. 

Hungary. — As  the  constitution  of  political  organizations  is 
illegal,  it  is  impossible  to  indicate  the  strength  of  the  socialists 
in  Hungary  ;  but  through  the  troublous  times  of  recent  years  they 
have  increased  enormously.  As  early  as  1867  two  working- 
class  organizations  were  started  :  the  one  to  follow  Schultze- 
Dehtsch,  who  afterward  founded  the  movement  for  agricultural 
banks,  and  the  other  to  follow  the  ideas  of  Lassalle.  The  former 
was  but  short-lived,  but  in  1869  a  democratic  union  was  formed 
and  a  "  Laborers'  Journal  "  founded.  The  movement  was  sub- 
jected to  brutal  treatment  on  the  part  of  the  government. 
Hundreds  were  exiled,  shot,  or  imprisoned,  and  the  leaders  were 
photographed  and  placed  in  the  rogues'  gallery  of  criminals. 
As  a  result  of  this  persecution  it  was  not  until  T890  that  the  or- 
ganization became  fairly  well  established ;  and  electoral  dis- 
abilities caused  it  to  assume  more  of  a  trade  union  and  economic 
character.  Little  could  be  done  in  parliamentary  work,  and 
although  the  socialists  did  extremely  well  in  the  municipal 
elections,  it  v;as  not  of  much  avail,  because  the  local  authorities 
have  little  autonomous  power.  In  the  development  of  trade 
unions  splendid  progress  has  been  made,  as  from  1905  to  1906 
the  number  of  organized   workmen  increased  from  71,173  to 


336  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

129,332,  or  over  thirty  per  cent  of  the  total  workers.  But  it  is 
among  the  rural  workers  that,  the  propaganda  has  been  most 
effective.  The  country  population  is  in  an  incredibly  poverty- 
stricken  condition,  and  the  sympathetic  character  of  the  socialist 
movement  has  appealed  strongly  to  these  starving  people. 
They  have  already  been  organized  into  over  600  groups,  with  a 
membership  of  50,000. 

During  the  last  few  years  especially  has  the  development  of 
the  socialist  party  been  of  a  very  agitated  character,  and  it  is 
now  transformed  into  a  group  of  conspirators,  submitted  to  es- 
pionage and  domiciliary  visits  by  the  criminal  police,  and  pro- 
scribed by  society.  The  bourgeois  parties  sought  to  sidetrack 
the  movement  by  agitating  for  a  separation  from  the  Austrian 
empire,  and  the  whole  country  was  in  a  ferment  over  the  language 
question.  The  Austrian  government,  driven  to  action,  threatened 
to  accede  to  the  demand  for  the  recognition  of  the  Hungarian 
language,  but  that  they  would  couple  with  it  the  granting  of  univer- 
sal suffrage.  This  not  only  chagrined  the  Hungarian  bourgeois, 
and  caused  them  hastily  to  abandon  the  nationalist  movement, 
but  it  also  proved  unfortunate  for  the  imperial  authorities  ;  for 
the  socialists,  who  had  hitherto  kept  out  of  the  nationalist 
embroglio,  entered  with  all  their  force  into  a  campaign 
for  universal  suffrage.  And  such  was  the  effect  of  their 
propaganda,  that  parliament  promised  to  give  the  matter  atten- 
tion. However,  parliament  was  prorogued  indefinitely,  and  the 
socialists  had  to  keep  up  their  agitation.  Eventually  the  con- 
stitutional difficulty  was  cleared  up  somewhat,  and  parliament 
was  reopened  with  a  promise  from  the  throne  that  universal 
suffrage  would  be  put  in  the  first  place.  Again  nothing  was 
done,  but  when  the  elections  of  1906  took  place,  not  a  single 
candidate  could  be  found  who  would  declare  himself  against 
electoral  reform.  However,  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  people 
had  again  been  betrayed  ;  and  when  the  socialists  renewed 
their  campaign,  a  veritable  reign  of  terror  was  instituted  against 
the  workmen's  unions.     They  even  discussed  in  parliament  a 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  337 

measure  sanctioning  to  the  landed  proprietors  the  right  of 
bastinado  in  the  treatment  of  their  agricultural  laborers. 

On  the  loth  of  October  last  year  the  people  ceased  work, 
and  a  hundred  thousand  men  traversed  the  main  streets  of 
Buda  Pesth,  accompanied  by  bands  playing  the  "  Marseillaise," 
to  the  house  of  parliament,  where  a  deputation  waited  upon  the 
president  of  the  chamber.  With  simple  dignity  they  declared  : 
"  We  have  interrupted  the  industrial  activity  of  the  country  in 
order  to  give  expression  to  the  claims  of  the  downtrodden  and 
suffering  people.  We  demand  universal  and  secret  suffrage." 
They  went  on  to  give  statistics  showing  the  miserable  con- 
dition in  which  the  workers  lived,  what  a  great  number  were 
emigrating,  and  how  those  remaining  were  being  mown  down 
by  tuberculosis.  The  state  had  created  no  new  schools,  and 
the  workmen  remained  in  their  ignorance,  t,8  per  cent  being 
illiterate.  The  government  had  dissolved  354  trade  unions. 
The  universal  vote  had  been  promised,  but  parliament  had 
allowed  nineteen  months  to  elapse  without  dreaming  of  pre- 
senting any  measure.  On  the  contrary  they  had  presented 
laws  which  had  put  the  proletariat  more  and  more  at  the 
caprice  of  the  possessing  class. 

All  the  deputation  received  in  reply  was  a  contemptuous 
speech  from  the  president,  while  a  socialist  deputy  was  refused 
the  right  of  interpellation.  This  reactionary  attitude,  added  to 
the  governmental  terrorism  in  attempting  to  suppress  the  trade 
unions,  has  created  profound  resentment  among  the  workers ; 
and  so  intense  is  the  feeling,  that  the  situation  of  the  Hungarian 
cabinet  cannot  be  tenable  for  long,  especially  in  view  of  the 
winning  of  the  suffrage  in  Austria. 

Finland.  —  The  trade  unions  were  the  foundation  of  the 
Finnish  Labor  Party,  inaugurated  in  1890  with  a  program 
based  upon  that  of  Erfurt.  This  has  since  been  elaborated, 
in  1903,  when  the  movement  took  the  name  of  the  Finnish 
Social  Democratic  Party.  As  soon  as  the  program  was  pub- 
lished it  was  confiscated  by  the  pohce,  and  the  name  of  the 


338  SOCIALISTS  AT   WORK 

party  was  not  allowed  to  appear  in  any  newspaper,  nor  even 
extracts  from  such  writers  as  Marx,  Engels,  and  Lassalle.  The 
population  being  very  scattered,  and  the  winters  long  and  severe, 
the  difficulties  of  propaganda  are  great ;  but  nevertheless  the 
Finns  made  splendid  progress.  They  have  fixed  certain  pe- 
riods of  the  year  for  special  agitation,  and  these  have  become 
permanent  institutions  in  the  life  of  the  people,  in  addition  to 
the  general  celebration  of  the  First  of  May.  Up  to  1905  the 
paying  members  of  the  party  amounted  to  nearly  50,000,  includ- 
ing 10,000  women. 

The  chief  accomplishment  of  the  socialists,  of  course,  has 
been  their  dramatic  conquest  of  universal  and  equal  suffrage 
for  men  and  women.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  every 
meeting  was  held  under  the  supervision  of  the  police,  who 
interfered  on  the  slightest  provocation,  the  socialists  attacked 
with  vigor  the  constitution  of  the  Diet.  This  assembly  was 
made  up  of  four  distinct  classes :  the  nobles,  the  clerics, 
the  landed  proprietors,  and  the  rich  bourgeois.  Workpeople, 
soldiers,  and  sailors  had  no  votes  ;  two  per  cent  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  a  town  controlled  the  electoral  power.  The  agitation 
led  to  an  immense  popular  demonstration  at  Helsingfors  on 
April  14,  1905,  when  the  huge  crowd  waited  for  six  hours  while 
their  demand  for  the  vote  was  being  discussed  in  the  Diet. 
The  result  was  barren,  and  when  it  was  communicated  to  the 
people,  their  emotion  and  excitement  were  terrible ;  and  this  feel- 
ing spread  throughout  the  whole  proletarian  class  in  Finland,  so 
that  the  14th  of  April  was  called  "  the  day  of  shame." 

The  socialists  had  already  threatened  to  have  recourse  to 
more  vigorous  tactics.  They  declared  that  by  means  of  uni- 
versal suffrage  the  people  would  elect  their  own  representa- 
tives, form  a  national  assembly,  and  elaborate  a  new  charter. 
This  revolutionary  idea  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the 
populace,  and  in  October,  1905,  during  the  trouble  in  Russia, 
the  general  political  strike  was  declared.  The  socialists  estab- 
lished practically  a  new  government,  with  all  the  state  depart- 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  339 

ments,  and  order  was  perfect  everywhare.  The  committee 
proclaimed  the  inviolability  of  the  person,  the  right  of  free 
speech  and  of  the  press,  and  suppressed  the  ordinary  pohce 
and  the  functionaries  of  the  Senate.  The  bourgeois  were  in 
a  panic,  and  disputed  among  themselves  as  to  the  methods  to 
pursue.  One  section  advocated  the  convocation  of  the  Diet 
in  order,  as  they  said,  to  hand  over  the  powers  to  the  national 
assembly,  while  another  section  proposed  that  the  Diet  itself 
should  undertake  legislation  for  new  representation,  or  in  other 
words  to  legislate  the  old  Diet  out  of  existence.  But  the 
socialists  would  on  no  account  allow  the  bourgeois  to  meddle. 
However,  the  imperial  proclamation  arrived  on  the  6th  of  No- 
vember, conceding  all  that  the  workers  demanded;  and  the 
strike  terminated.  The  socialists  had  little  confidence  in  this, 
and  went  on  making  preparations  for  another  strike ;  and  soon 
mistrust  of  the  government  was  general.  An  ex-secretary  of 
the  party,  Kari,  accepted  a  position  in  the  government,  and  the 
party  declared  that  by  so  doing  he  had  himself  severed  his 
connection  with  socialism.  As  the  socialists  were  now  perfect- 
ing their  elaborations  for  another  political  strike  the  authori- 
ties were  again  thrown  into  consternation  and  panic,  and 
eventually  a  measure  was  rushed  though  the  Diet,  and  the 
suffrage  was  sanctioned  in  St.  Petersburg  in  July,  1906.  Still 
several  small  groups  of  non-possessors  were  not  franchised,  but 
practically  all  men  and  women  received  the  right  to  vote. 

In  April,  1907,  the  general  election  took  place,  and  although 
the  capitalist  parties  exploited  to  their  utmost  the  racial  and 
lingual  differences  between  the  Swedes  and  the  Finns,  the  suc- 
cess of  the  socialists  was  an  event  never  to  be  forgotten.  For 
the  first  time  a  socialist  sits  in  the  parliament,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  any  parliament  women  have  also  been  elected.  Indeed, 
perhaps  the  greatest  praise  is  due  to  the  women  in  the  winning 
of  the  suffrage.  On  one  occasion  they  held  a  meeting  at 
which  there  were  no  less  than  25,000  women.  The  socialist 
representation  in  the  Diet  numbers  80  out  of  a  total  of  200 


340  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

members.  Nineteen  women  were  elected,  of  whom  nine  were 
socialists.     One  of  them  was  a  housemaid  ! 

Sweden.  —  The  proletarian  movement  dates  from  the  seven- 
ties, up  to  which  time  the  bulk  of  the  people  had  been  engaged 
in  agriculture.  Pioneering  was  done  by  a  Danish  tailor  named 
Auguste  Palm,  who  started  a  newspaper  entitled  "  The  People's 
Will."  This  was  suppressed,  and  later  a  socialist  organization 
was  founded,  which  eventually  branched  off  into  trade  unions. 
These  unions  came  together  in  1889  and  formed  the  Social 
Democratic  Labor  Party,  based  on  a  program  after  the  Ger- 
man pattern.  The  party  had  thus  the  excellent  foundation  of 
a  workers'  economic  movement.  It  early  had  its  internal 
tribulation,  but  after  a  set  debate  at  a  congress  in  189 1  the 
Marxian  socialists  triumphed  over  the  anarchists.  The  suffrage 
being  very  restricted,  the  socialists  made  electoral  reform  the 
main  object  of  their  propaganda,  while  at  the  same  time  they 
carried  on  an  incessant  agitation  for  improved  conditions  in 
industry.  Strike  after  strike  was  organized,  and  so  admi- 
rably managed  that  working  conditions  have  been  vastly  im- 
proved. So  advanced  was  the  movement  that  in  1902,  the 
government  having  played  with  the  people  so  long  on  the 
matter  of  the  suffrage,  a  general  strike  was  declared.  In 
Stockholm  there  were  no  trams,  cabs,  gas,  electricity ;  and  all 
production  had  ceased,  42,000  people  having  struck  work  in 
that  city  alone.  The  government  was  in  a  dilemma,  and  a 
meeting  of  the-  two  chambers  hastily  passed  a  resolution  in- 
viting the  government  to  bring  in  a  measure  based  upon 
universal  suffrage.  However,  this  was  but  an  insincere  action 
in  order  to  quiet  the  people,  and  the  socialists  had  to  con- 
tinue their  agitation.  In  fact,  it  may  be  said  that  the  socialists 
of  Sweden  achieved  what  success  they  have  because  of  their 
suffrage  agitation  and  their  admirable  organization  of  strikes. 
In  the  last  seven  years  the  number  of  trade  unionists  has 
increased  from  46,000  to  144,395. 

In  1904  the  chamber  rejected  a  measure  brought  forward 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  34 1 

by  the  conservative  government  for  so-called  universal  suffrage, 
as  it  left  intact  the  predominance  of  the  senate.  To  be  a  sen- 
ator it  is  not  necessary  to  pass  examinations  or  submit  to  popu- 
lar elections.  A  considerable  income  or  a  big  fortune  is  the 
only  necessary  qualification.  The  senate  deals  with  the  bud- 
get, so  that  there  is  little  chance  for  any  legislation  which  meets 
with  the  disapproval  of  this  house.  During  1905  the  govern- 
ment proposed  a  measure  menacing  the  right  to  strike  of  the 
trade  unions  in  the  railway,  gas,  electricity  and  similar  industries, 
obviously  an  attempt  to  frustrate  any  political  general  strike. 
There  was  great  excitement  over  this,  and  without  doubt  there 
would  have  been  a  spontaneous  general  strike  had  the  measure 
passed.  But  mainly  owing  to  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the 
socialists,  it  was  defeated  by  112  votes  to  no.  During  this 
same  year  took  place  the  memorable  strike  of  the  metal 
workers,  which  ended  in  a  decided  victory  for  the  workmen. 

With  regard  to  the  separation  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  the 
sociahsts  in  congress  in  1905,  when  the  Norwegian  delegates 
were  also  present,  proclaimed  the  absolute  right  of  the  Nor- 
wegian people  freely  to  decide  their  own  affairs.  During  the 
crisis  the  Swedish  bourgeois  were  very  excited  and  bellicose, 
and  demanded  the  mobilization  of  the  army ;  while  for  once 
the  socialists  and  the  royal  family  were  in  accord  in  the  sup- 
port of  a  peaceful  arrangement. 

At  the  general  election  of  1905  the  party  returned  thirteen 
(since  augmented  by  two)  members  instead  of  four  as  previ- 
ously. A  liberal-radical  government  came  in,  and  they  pro- 
posed a  limited  suffrage  reform,  to  which,  as  it  would  increase 
the  electorate  from  400,000  to  about  a  million,  the  socialists 
gave  their  support.  The  senate  threw  it  out,  and  a  conserv- 
ative government  then  took  office.  The  new  parliament 
contrived  an  ingenious  measure  for  universal  suffrage,  with 
proportional  representation  for  both  chambers.  The  opening 
of  the  senate  to  the  people  was  more  apparent  than  real,  and 
the  socialists,  perceiving  that  it  was  an   attempt  to   put   the 


342  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

senate  beyond  destruction,  opposed  the  whole  measure  by  a 
vigorous  campaign,  and  demanded  a  complete  constitutional 
revision.  "  Down  with  the  senate "  was  their  cry,  and  so 
great  appeared  to  be  their  influence  that  the  bourgeois  parties 
became  alarmed.  Liberals,  and  even  senators  who  did  not 
like  the  tampering  with  the  upper  house,  gave  the  government 
measure  support,  and  it  was  passed.  It  comes  into  operation 
in  three  years'  time,  and  as  it  more  than  doubles  the  number 
of  voters,  the  socialists  are  sanguine  of  electing  quite  fifty 
members  to  the  chamber,  and  perhaps  two  dozen  to  the 
Senate. 

Norway.  —  As  it  was  one  of  the  latest  countries  to  be  in- 
vaded by  industrialism  and  capitalism,  and  as  it  was  already 
one  of  the  most  democratic  in  nature,  with  an  advanced  system 
of  education  and  social  legislation,  socialism  did  not  make  a 
beginning  in  Norway  until  late  in  the  eighties,  when  the  Labor 
Party  was  established ;  although  as  early  as  the  fifties  Markus 
Thrane,  a  young  agitator,  endeavored  to  organize  the  workers, 
for  which  he  was  many  times  imprisoned.  Socialists,  both 
men  and  women,  soon  made  their  way  into  the  municipal 
councils ;  and  it  is,  perhaps,  in  its  municipal  work  that 
Norwegian  socialism  has  been  most  successful,  especially 
in  Christiania  and  Trondhjem.  It  was  not  until  1903 
that  they  were  represented  in  the  Storthing,  when  the  four 
socialists  elected  included  Dr.  Ericksen  and  Professor  Berge, 
the  former  a  Lutheran  clergyman,  and  the  latter  the  only 
Roman  Catholic  in  parliament.  The  press  is  well  developed, 
and  includes  the  "Social  Demokraten,"  an  influential  daily. 
The  membership  of  the  party  is  now  over  20,000,  in  396 
groups. 

Naturally  the  attention  of  the  Labor  Party  has  been  engrossed 
during  the  last  few  years  by  the  crisis  culminating  in  the  separa- 
tion of  the  states  of  Norway  and  Sweden.  Since  1892  the  social- 
ists had  declared  for  a  severance  from  the  dominance  of  Sweden, 
in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  ruinous  military  expenditure,  the 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  343 

perpetual  fear  of  the  Swedish  nobles,  and  in  order  that  Norway 
might  devote  herself  to  social  reform.  The  separation  was 
effected,  but  the  Liberals,  as  soon  as  they  had  got  what  they 
wanted,  —  the  establishment  of  Norwegian  consulates,  —  showed 
themselves  to  be  reactionary,  finally  dissolving  and  handing  over 
the  power  of  government  to  a  conservative  bloc,  who  gave  to 
the  Norwegians,  up  to  that  time  governed  after  the  manner  of 
a  republic,  a  Danish  king.  The  socialists  fought  energetically 
for  a  republic,  and  although  the  time  for  propaganda  was  very 
short,  it  was  thought  that  they  would  carry  the  day.  The  pleb- 
iscite, however,  showed  only  69,264  for  a  republic  as  against 
259,563  for  a  kingdom.  The  subsequent  action  of  the  social- 
ists in  voting  to  welcome  King  Haakon  to  Norway  was  severely 
criticised  throughout  the  world  movement,  and  to  their  expla- 
nation that  it  would  have  been  unconstitutional  to  have  voted 
otherwise  after  the  referendum,  the  German  "  Vorwarts  "  re- 
torted, "  Since  when  have  socialists  been  bound  by  constitu- 
tions?" Eventually  it  was  given  as  an  excuse  by  the  leading 
socialist  review  that  the  party  was  very  young,  and  that  it 
must  be  rem.embered  it  had  not  been  built  upon  an  economic 
foundation  as  in  other  countries. 

The  elections  of  1906  proved  a  great  time  for  the  socialists, 
as  they  assembled  no  less  than  45,000  votes  as  against  30,000 
in  1903,  and  increased  their  representation  to  ten.  Trade 
unionism  has  also  rapidly  developed,  the  number  having  in  two 
years  increased  from  90S9  to  25,308,  and  affiliated  with  the 
Labor  Party.  Propaganda  is  making  progress  among  the  farm- 
ers and  the  fishermen.  The  women  throw  themselves  into  the 
work  with  enthusiasm,  and  the  young  people's  societies  are  of 
great  help. 

As  both  the  conservatives  and  the  radicals  had  long  ago  in- 
scribed on  their  programs  the  granting  of  the  suffrage  to  women, 
the  Storthing  could  no  longer  refrain  from  granting  this  popular 
demand,  and  in  August  it  became  law.  All  men  in  Norway 
over  25  years  have  the  right  to  vote  without  qualification,  and 


344  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

the  vote  is  now  extended  to  women  over  25,  but  with  a  revenue 
quaUfication.  However,  as,  in  the  case  of  married  women,  they 
are  entitled  to  vote  if  the  specified  amount  of  taxes  is  paid  by 
the  husbands,  it  is  calculated  that  something  like  300,000 
women  have  been  enfranchised,  which  includes  a  considerable 
majority  of  the  married  women. 

Denmark.  —  It  has  been  said  that  the  progress  of  socialism  in 
Denmark  is  more  encouraging  than  in  any  other  country.  It  was 
in  the  spring  of  1 8  7 1  that  a  young  post-office  official  named  Louis 
Pio,  fired  by  the  socialist  ideals  of  the  Paris  Commune,  issued 
a  socialist  leaflet  which  caused  somewhat  of  a  sensation.  This 
was  followed  by  the  establishment  of  a  newspaper,  which  lives 
to  this  day  in  "The  Social  Democrat."  In  the  fall  of  1871  a 
section  of  the  International  was  established,  and  in  twelve 
months'  time  it  counted  8000  members.  Attention  was  devoted 
to  the  organization  of  trade  unions  especially,  and  strikes  were 
inaugurated  and  fought  with  tangible  success  to  the  workers ; 
but  after  a  period  of  ruthless  persecution  the  movement  was 
suppressed  in  1873,  and  the  leaders  imprisoned.  Nevertheless, 
the  work  went  on  in  the  economic  field,  and  in  1878  the  various 
unions  and  associations  came  together  and  founded  the  present 
Social  Democratic  Union  of  Denmark,  based  upon  a  program  of 
the  German  type.  The  union  embraces  two  organizations,  the 
one  political  and  the  other  economic,  made  up  of  the  various 
trade  societies.  The  political  side  elects  two  members  on  the 
general  council  of  the  unions,  and  vice  versa.  The  political  or- 
ganization counts  35,000  members,  and  the  trade  unions  99,000  \ 
but  as  some  are  members  of  both,  the  round  total  would  be 
somewhere  about  the  encouraging  figure  of  1 20,000, 

The  fight  between  the  landlords  and  the  great  farmers  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  peasant  farmers  and  agricultural  laborers  on 
the  other,  has  now  become  very  keen  indeed  ;  in  participating 
in  which  the  socialist  cause  has  had  an  astonishing  success,  the 
real  workers  of  the  land  turning  to  the  socialists  as  their  only 
saviours  from  the  rapacity  of  the  land    monopolizers.     There 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  345 

have  been  repeated  attempts  to  split  up  the  admirable  organiza- 
tion of  the  party,  by  the  institution  of  "Christian  Socialist" 
parties,  and  by  the  anti-parliamentary  tactics  of  a  few  anarchists  ; 
but  all  these  attempts  have  been  miserably  abortive ;  and  the 
Danish  party  stands  out  as  one  of  the  sturdiest  and  best-united 
sections  of  the  international  movement. 

The  socialists  were  very  successful  in  the  elections  of  1906, 
as  they  increased  their  representation  from  16  to  24  in  the 
People's  Chamber,  out  of  a  total  of  114  seats,  and  from  one 
to  four  representatives  in  the  Senate,  out  of  66  seats.  The  total 
number  of  votes  polled  was  77,000.  In  the  communal  elections 
the  party  has  also  made  great  progress,  as  in  50  towns  they  have 
either  in  the  council  or  in  municipal  posts  450  representatives, 
and  400  in  the  rural  communes.  In  parliament  the  group  has 
had  a  decided  influence  upon  social  reform.  In  189 1  a  tax  was 
put  upon  lager  beer,  a  part  of  the  proceeds  of  which  was  de- 
voted to  the  establishment  of  an  old-age  pension  system,  with- 
out any  previous  payment  on  the  part  of  the  recipients.  All  over 
60  years  of  age  are  entitled  to  a  pension,  half  of  which  is  paid  by 
the  state  and  half  by  the  local  authority.  The  socialists  are  now 
agitating  for  a  liberal  extension  of  the  system.  In  the  matter  of 
factory  legislation  the  group  have  also  done  excellent  work,  and 
they  are  now  fighting  strenuously  for  universal  and  equal  suf- 
frage in  municipal  elections,  unemployed  legislation,  the  eight- 
hour  day,  and  for  a  radical  reduction  in  military  expenditure. 
Propaganda  is  principally  by  the  25  daily  newspapers,  of  which 
"The  Social  Democrat"  boasts  a  daily  circulation  of  55,000. 
Cooperative  enterprises  are  spreading,  and  at  Copenhagen 
the  socialists  have  a  bakery,  a  butchery,  and  a  brewery. 

Holland.  —  Up  to  1870  there  was  no  movement  of  impor- 
tance in  the  Netherlands,  but  when  Domela  Nieuwenhuis  gave 
up  his  pastorate  in  the  Lutheran  Church  at  the  Hague  in  order 
to  preach  socialism,  the  new  gospel  was  received  with  enthusi- 
asm. The  group  of  pioneers  met  with  as  bitter  persecution  as 
perhaps  the  socialists   have  experienced  anywhere   except  in 


346  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

Russia.     In  1888  Nieuwenhuis,  on  his  release  from  imprison- 
ment for  lese  majesty,  was  elected  a  member  of  parliament,  and 
so  great  was  the  indignation  of  the  bourgeois  that  one  school- 
master made  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  government  to  strike  the 
"  red   district "   represented    by  the  sociahst  from  the  map ! 
The  solitary  socialist  had  a  rough  time  in  the  assembly,  and 
the  fact  that  he  could  make  no  headway  there  made  him  de- 
spair of  parliamentary  tactics.     He  then  went  to  the  extreme 
of  revolutionary  propaganda,  and  this  eventually  led  to  a  seces- 
sion from  the  movement.     In  1894  the  present  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party  was  formed   by  twelve  men,  known  now' as  the 
twelve   apostles,   including  the  present   leader  Troelstra.     In 
I  go  I  the  party  ran  candidates  in  51  out  of  the  hundred  elec- 
toral districts,  and  with  a  vote  of  40,000  they  returned  seven 
members  to  parliament,  an  increase  of  four  on  1897.     "  Het 
Volk,"  the  chief  party  organ,  has  had  a  considerable  influence 
in  propaganda.     With  the   gradual  decline  of  agriculture,  as 
compared  with  the  oncoming  of  the  capitalist  regime,  the  trade 
unions  have  developed  rapidly,  side  by  side  with  a  young  and 
sturdy  cooperative  movement  on  the  lines  of  that  of  Belgium. 
One  of  the  strongest  trade  unions,  which  has  played  a  promi- 
nent part  in  labor  battles  during  recent  years,  is  that  of  the 
diamond  workers,  which  has  Polak  for  a  leader.     There  have 
been   many    successful    agitations   and   strikes  in  the  various 
trades,  notably  in  the  jute  industry,  and  even  among  the  agri- 
cultural laborers.     Workmen's  cooperatives,  quite  distinct  from 
the  bourgeois,  are  devoting  part  of  their  profits  to  the  political 
and  economic  fight.     Special  effort  is  being  made  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  eight-hour  day,  and  on  universal  suffrage. 

The  elections  of  1905  saw  the  fall  of  the  much-hated  Dr. 
Kuyper,  who  was  the  personification  of  reaction,  and  the  arch- 
enemy of  the  proletarian  movement.  So  far  as  the  workers 
were  concerned  it  might  almost  be  said  that  their  only  desire 
was  to  defeat  this  man,  at  whose  hand  they  had  suffered  so 
much ;  and  his  fall  was  celebrated  with  great  rejoicing  through- 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  347 

out  the  land.  During  his  ministry  he  had  waged  unceasing 
warfare  against  the  workmen's  organizations,  and  by  a  stroke 
of  the  pen  had  taken  away  the  right  to  strike  from  the  workers 
on  the  railroads  and  in  the  public  services.  As,  however,  the 
elections  were  still  under  the  influence  of  the  Liberals  and  the 
Clericals,  the  socialists  were  unable  to  get  a  straight  fight  upon 
their  principles,  and  they  were  unable  to  increase  their  represen- 
tation, although  their  vote  was  65,743  as  against  38,279  in  1901. 
The  Clericals  held  48  seats  and  the  Liberals  45,  and  thus  the 
socialists  are  to  a  certain  degree  in  possession  of  the  balance 
of  power,  which  they  use  to  effect  in  stimulating  social  reform. 

Internally  the  party  has  been  troubled  by  the  syndicalist 
element.  Indeed,  from  its  earliest  days  the  Dutch  movement 
has  been  agitated  by  those  of  an  anarchist  tendency ;  and  be- 
cause of  their  hostile  attitude  there  was  recently  great  danger 
of  a  disruption  of  the  party.  "  Het  Volk  "  was  charged  with 
becoming  lax  in  Marxian  principles  and  with  favoring  revision- 
ism. However,  after  a  long  dispute  and  much  personal  bitter- 
ness, the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  members  have  supported 
the  central  committee  in  a  resolution  demanding  that  the 
criticism  of  the  syndicalist  section  should  be  kept  within 
reasonable  limits ;  and  at  the  congress  of  1907  the  malcontents 
submitted,  a  fact  that  has  considerably  brightened  the  outlook 
for  socialism  in  the  Netherlands. 

Switzerland. — During  the  past  few  years  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party  has  been  passing  through  tribulation,  but  the 
members  derive  much  satisfaction  from  the  fact  that  while  the 
political  movement  has  made  little  headway,  there  has  been  a 
wonderful  development  of  trade  unions,  cooperatives,  and  local 
reform  societies.  Known  as  the  most  democratic  country  in 
the  world,  Switzerland  had  very  early  its  radical  associations 
and  socialist  societies.  One  of  the  oldest  and  most  powerful 
was  the  Grutliverein,  which  dominated  the  working-class  move- 
ment until  recent  years  ;  but  as  most  of  its  leaders  were  Liberals, 
the  result  has  been  similar  to  that  in  England :  the  develop- 


348  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ment  of  a  distinctly  socialist  party  has  been  comparatively  slow 
Until  the  quite  recent  advent  of  industrialism,  there  were  few 
proletarians  ;  and  possessed  of  his  right  to  the  referendum,  the 
individual  was  not  enamoured  of  political  parties.  One  effect 
of  the  referendum  is  that,  every  important  question  having  to 
be  submitted  to  the  populace,  it  follows  that  a  great  amount 
of  political  education  on  the  subject  is  necessary,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  peasant  class  especially  is  inclined 'to  be  conserv- 
ative and  impatient  of  politics,  and  the  politician  tends  to 
become  opportunist. 

The  Social  Democratic  Party  was  founded  in  1888,  and  as 
the  Grutliverein  had  become  permeated  with  socialism,  a 
union  was  effected  in  1901,  and  also  with  the  trade  unions. 
Although  this  amalgamation,  bringing  in  as  it  did  the  extensive 
organization  and  funds  of  the  Grutli,  had  a  strengthening  effect 
upon  the  proletarian  movement,  its  socialism  was  somewhat 
diluted.  There  have  been  many  reports  as  to  the  sad  way 
into  which  the  Swiss  socialist  party  has  gotten,  but  to  a  large 
extent  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  Grutli  were  merely 
radicals  and  could  not  accept  the  socialist  principles  in  full. 
It  is  the  weeding  out  of  this  element  that  explains  very 
largely  the  apparent  weakening  of  the  cause  of  socialism  in 
Switzerland. 

The  socialists  have  done  most  excellent  work  in  the  muni- 
cipal councils,  and  there  are  signs  on  every  hand  that  they 
are  gaining  the  sympathies  of  the  workers.  The  electoral 
system  is  open  to  much  fraud,  which  is  unscrupulously  prac- 
tised by  the  capitalist  parties  to  keep  the  workers  from  repre- 
sentation in  the  National  Council.  At  the  last  election  the 
socialists  assembled  70,000  votes,  by  which  they  claim  to  have 
won  25  seats,  but  they  were  only  allowed  six.  Recent  in- 
quiries have  been  made  into  the  extent  of  exploitation  of 
child-labor,  with  the  appalling  revelation  that  53  per  cent  of 
the  children  attending  school  are  also  employed  in  laborious 
daily  work.     The  school  teachers  complain  that  the  mentality 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  349 

is  now  very  low,  and  that  40  per  cent  of  the  children  are 
stunted.  Capitalism  has  become  intense,  and  with  it  an  al- 
most savage  system  of  oppression  has  been  instituted  by  the 
government.  The  fact  that  there  are  three  different  languages 
in  the  country  hinders  very  much  the  propaganda  of  the  so- 
cialists, while  the  anarchist  tendency  is  still  strong  in  the  trade 
unions. 

Switzerland  has  become  notorious  for  the  frequency  with 
which  the  soldiery  is  used  against  striking  workmen,  and  in 
1906  the  socialists  held  an  extraordinary  congress  to  discuss 
the  whole  military  question.  Although  the  military  system  of 
this  country  is  much  belauded  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  the 
Swiss  socialists  passed  a  resolution  declaring  themselves  in 
accord  with  all  the  other  socialist  parties  in  the  demand  for 
the  suppression  of  all  acts  and  means  of  war,  admitting  for  the 
present  the  need  for  a  militia  exclusively  for  defensive  pur- 
poses. They  demanded  a  guarantee  against  the  gross  abuse 
of  the  employment  of  soldiers  against  strikers  ;  and  failing  any 
such  assurance,  they  counselled  all  soldiers  to  disobey  com- 
mands to  attack  workmen,  guaranteeing  to  indemnify  such 
soldiers  for  any  financial  charges  they  might  incur,  and  to 
support  their  families.  To  this  end  a  special  fund  was  estab- 
lished. Recently  the  socialists  have  been  subjected  to  much 
persecution.  The  editor  of  the  Zurich  daily  has  been  ban- 
ished, and  the  writer  of  a  leaflet  has  been  sent  to  prison  for 
eight  months. 

Spain. —  Many  attempts  were  made  between  1878  and  1882 
to  found  a  sociaUst  party,  but  they  failed,  until  Pablo  Inglesias, 
who  had  propagated  socialist  ideas  for  many  years,  founded  a 
paper,  "  El  Socialista,"  in  1888.  Then  a  Socialist  Labor  Party 
was  formed  at  Barcelona,  its  program  being  taken  from  the 
French  and  German  parties.  But  ever  since  the  International 
the  anarchist  spirit  had  been  prevalent,  for  which  no  doubt  the 
corrupt  state  of  the  government,  and  the  apparent  hopelessness 
of  parliamentary  action,  were  largely  responsible.     The  social- 


350  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

ists  had  this  spirit  to  combat  as  well  as  the  ordinary  difficulties 
of  propaganda,  but  nevertheless  they  made  steady  progress, 
and  in  1904  they  counted  10,000  members,  and  mustered 
29,000  votes  at  the  parliamentary  elections. 

But  the  terrible  industrial  crisis  w^hich  followed  the  Philippine 
and  Cuban  wars  has  had  a  discouraging  effect  upon  the  social- 
ist organizations  as  well  as  upon  the  trade  unions.  Trade  is 
practically  at  a  standstill,  and  whole  villages  have  been  de- 
serted. Another  reason  for  the  backwardness  of  the  proleta- 
rian movement  is  the  illiteracy  of  the  people.  Out  of  9,087,821 
men  5,086,056  can  either  not  read  or  write,  and  of  9,530,265 
women  no  less  than  6,806,834  are  illiterates.  In  the  year 
1902  alone,  all  together  51,593  people  emigrated,  about  half  of 
these  to  America.  Nevertheless,  despite  the  enormous  power 
exercised  by  the  clergy  over  the  ignorant,  there  has  been  an 
encouraging  growth  of  a  republican  spirit.  The  socialist  party 
now  only  counts  6000  members,  but  it  is  working  in  very  cor- 
dial relations  with  the  general  union  of  workmen,  whose  mem- 
bership totals  34,537  as  against  56,905  before  the  industrial 
crisis.  There  is  a  section  of  anarchists,  but  the  unions  are 
directed  and  the  tactic  is  determined  by  the  socialists. 

Government,  both  central  and  local,  is  in  a  parlous  condi- 
tion. The  universal  suffrage,  the  self-government,  the  funda- 
mental liberties,  exist  on  paper  only ;  and  the  bureaucracy  is 
dominant.  Terrorism  has  existed  for  some  time  at  Barcelona, 
and  it  has  been  proved  that  the  authors  of  bomb  outrages  were 
the  police  themselves.  At  the  parliamentary  election  in  1907, 
the  bureaucracy  received  an  unexpected  blow.  What  was  known 
as  the  solidarity  movement,  originating  in  the  department  of 
Catalonia,  resulted  in  a  large  number  of  members  being  returned 
pledged  to  fight  for  autonomy  in  local  government.  But  during 
the  year  the  government  have  put  forward  measures  revising 
the  system  of  local  government,  which  are  only  underhand 
blows  at  universal  suffrage.  The  bureaucracy  has  for  a  time 
strengthened  its  hold  in  the  communities,  and  it  is  calculated 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  35 1 

that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  workmen  to  elect  their  own 
representatives  in  a  majority  of  these  local  bodies. 

Bulgaria.  — The  Socialist  Party  was  founded  in  1894,  and 
in  1902  obtained  seven  seats  in  parliament,  with  20,307  votes, 
but  in  the  following  year  lost  them  all.  This  was  partly  due  to 
the  terrorism  exercised  over  the  electors  by  the  government, 
but  principally  to  a  very  serious  split  in  the  ranks  of  the  social- 
ists. Up  to  quite  recently  the  membership  consisted  for  the 
most  part  of  the  educated  classes  and  petty  bourgeois,  while 
the  proletarian  workers  were  in  a  small  minority.  It  was  de- 
clared that  because  of  this  character  of  the  movement  the 
party  was  nothing  more  than  a  seat-hunting  body  for  the  bour- 
geois, who  had  abandoned  the  principles  of  the  class  struggle. 
Some  of  the  opportunists,  as  they  were  called,  advocated  the  col- 
laboration of  classes,  while  the  other  section  demanded  that  the 
movement  should  be  kept  on  strictly  Marxian  lines.  The  oppor- 
tunists repudiated  the  charges  of  their  opponents,  but  never- 
theless a  split  took  place  in  1903,  and  up  to  the  present  there 
are  at  work  two  distinct  socialist  parties.  As  a  consequence 
the  cause  makes  but  slow  progress  in  Bulgaria,  so  far  as  repre- 
sentation on  public  bodies  is  concerned. 

Servia.  — The  Erfurt  program  was  adopted  as  the  basis  of  the 
Social  Democratic  Labor  Party,  founded  in  1903.  There  had 
been  an  active  trade  union  movement  since  late  in  the  eighties, 
but  because  of  the  unrest  and  disturbances  leading  up  to  the 
coup  d'etat  in  1903,  there  had  been  little  work  of  a  political 
character,  the  authorities  doing  their  utmost  to  stamp  out  any 
organization.  The  socialists  had  hardly  got  started  when  the 
annual  parliamentary  election  was  upon  them.  However,  they 
put  forward  candidates,  and  despite  the  very  limited  suffrage, 
they  elected  one  member.  In  1905  they  won  two  seats,  but  in 
1906  they  could  again  only  secure  one,  although  their  votes  had 
increased.  In  the  communal  elections  they  have  done  much 
better.  The  membership  of  the  party  at  the  end  of  1906  was 
1400,  and  they  work  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  trade  unions. 


352  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

They  are  now  concentrating   on    the   fight   for   universal  suf- 
frage. 

Poland.  —  Of  twenty  million  Poles,  ten  million  are  upon 
Russian  territory,  four  in  Austria,  and  three  and  a  half  in  Prus- 
sia, while  the  rest  are  scattered  all  over  the  world.  Hence  the 
Polish  Socialist  Party  is  divided  into  three  sections.  In  Russia 
such  are  the  oppression  and  secret  methods  of  the  government 
that  extreme  precaution  has  to  be  exercised  in  admitting  people 
to  membership.  Under  such  circumstances  the  formation  of 
trade  unions  is  difficult,  but  nevertheless  the  socialists  were  the 
guiding  spirits  in  a  whole  series  of  strikes  from  1899  to  1903, 
with  more  or  less  tangible  results  to  the  strikers.  And  then  the 
industrial  crisis  almost  brought  about  the  suspension  of  the  move- 
ment. During  the  recent  years,  however,  the  propaganda  has 
been  very  effective,  extending  to  the  rural  workers,  where  the 
socialists  have  the  opposition  of  the  nationalists  and  the  clergy, 
who  do  not  hesitate  to  assist  the  poHce  against  them.  Much  is 
made  of  the  First  of  May  in  Warsaw,  and  the  custom  has  ex- 
tended of  utilizing  the  funerals  of  sociahsts  for  demonstrations. 
It  is  not  infrequent  that  scores  of  the  mourners  are  afterward 
lodged  in  jail.  The  Austrian  section  is  largely  in  Galicia,  a 
country  still  under  a  regular  feudal  system,  and  where  the 
people  die  of  starvation  by  the  thousand.  The  socialists  were, 
of  course,  much  agitated  over  the  revolutionary  happenings  in 
Russia,  and  at  a  great  demonstration  in  Krakow  the  portrait 
of  the  Czar  was  burnt.  In  the  subsequent  police  riot  many 
people  were  wounded.  Incidentally  the  chief  of  the  police 
had  his  ears  soundly  boxed !  Even  in  Prussia  the  Poles  are 
subjected  to  severe  persecution,  and  in  the  endeavor  of  the 
authorities  to  crush  out  all  national  characteristics,  the  children 
are  imprisoned  if  they  are  discovered  studying  their  own 
language  or  literature.  The  consequence  is  that  the  intellectual 
development  of  the  Poles  in  Prussia  is  being  arrested.  A  Pole 
arriving  from  Warsaw  or  Krakow  is  a  suspect,  merely  because 
he  is  a  Pole.     Nevertheless,  the  socialists  carry  on  an  active 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  353 

propaganda,  and  the  party  cooperates  enthusiastically  with  the 
German  socialists.     There  is  a  branch  of  the  party  in  America. 

Japan.  —  In  1897  a  socialist  agitation  was  commenced  by 
Sen  Katayama,  who  was  present  at  the  Amsterdam  Congress  in 
1904,  but  at  almost  every  meeting  he  was  stopped  by  the 
police,  who  kept  pace  with  his  movements  everywhere.  How- 
ever, he  engineered  several  successful  strikes.  In  1901,  a 
Social  Democratic  Party  was  started  in  Tokio,  and  was  im- 
mediately suppressed.  Another  effort,  a  month  later,  was  also 
suppressed ;  but  a  third  attempt,  when  a  program  was  adopted 
on  the  lines  of  the  Communist  Manifesto,  was  more  successful, 
and  the  movement  took  root.  The  spread  of  socialist  ideas 
has  been  accelerated  by  the  feverish  growth  of  capitalism  and  the 
industrial  crisis  following  the  war.  Several  socialist  newspapers 
were  started,  of  which  "  Hikari "  has  played  a  prominent  part. 
Kotoku  and  Nishikawa,  the  editors  of  one  of  the  journals,  were 
sentenced  to  imprisonment,  and  the  journal  suppressed.  In 
1906  Tokio  was  for  several  days  in  a  state  of  civil  war  conse- 
quent upon  a  socialist  agitation  against  the  shameless  exploi- 
tation of  the  people  by  the  tramway  monopolists.  Latterly  the 
government  has  redoubled  its  persecution,  the  recently  started 
daily  newspaper  has  been  suppressed,  and  for  the  time  being 
the  socialists  have  decided  to  carry  on  their  propaganda  in  a 
secret  manner.  Socialism  is  undoubtedly  spreading  fast,  es- 
pecially among  the  more  intelligent  of  the  populace  and  the 
students. 

Chili.  — As  early  as  1850  Francisco  Bilbao  propagated  ideas 
of  equaUty,  and  founded  a  Society  of  Equahty ;  and  for  his 
pains  he  was  condemned  as  a  blasphemer  and  exiled.  The 
year  1887  saw  the  estabhshment  of  the  Democratic  Party, 
which  is  socialist  in  character,  and  has  recently  expressed  a 
desire  to  become  affiliated  with  the  International.  The  men 
who  started  the  movement  were  subjected  to  much  persecu- 
tion, which  is  continued  up  to  the  present,  as  quite  recently 
the  editor  of  the  official  journal  was  condemned  to  eighteen 

2A 


354  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

months'  imprisonment,  which  he  avoided  by  leaving  the 
country.  Because  of  the  revolution  of  1891  there  was  a  check 
in  the  work  of  the  party,  but  afterward  it  resumed  with  greater 
vigor,  and  in  1894  scored  its  first  poHtical  success  by  electing 
a  deputy  at  Valparaiso.  In  1906  there  were  six  members 
elected,  and  the  sociahst  vote  totalled  18,000.  Eighty  repre- 
sentatives were  elected  in  the  municipalities,  and  in  five  towns 
the  socialists  were  in  a  majority.  A  significant  feature  of  the 
present  situation  in  Chili  is  that  the  government  cannot  get 
sufficient  men  to  join  the  police,  and  not  20  per  cent  of  the 
conscripts  present  themselves  for  service  in  the  army. 

Argentina.  —  Notwithstanding  the  heterogeneous  character  of 
the  population,  and  the  iUiteracy  of  the  poorer  classes,  sociahsm 
is  making  considerable  progress  in  the  Argentine  Republic. 
The  Socialist  Party  was  established  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  1896, 
when  a  program  was  adopted  similar  to  those  in  Europe,  but  mod- 
ified to  local  necessities.  At  the  beginning  of  1907  there  were 
more  than  3000  members.  The  weekly  paper  "  Vanguardia  " 
has  a  circulation  of  6000.  The  electoral  system  is  corrupted 
and  abused  by  the  landowners,  but  nevertheless  the  socialist 
vote  has  increased  from  1254  in  1904  to  3500  in  1906.  One 
socialist  deputy  was  elected  in  1904  for  four  years.  There  are 
two  or  three  federations  of  trade  unions,  one  of  which  is  dis- 
tinctly anarchistic. 

Australasia.  —  Geographical  isolation,  and  the  tolerably  com- 
fortable condition  of  the  workers,  account  in  a  great  measure 
for  the  tardy  appearance  of  socialism  in  Australia.  Up  to 
1890,  the  year  of  the  great  maritime  strike,  there  was  no  polit- 
ical movement  among  working  men,  but  in  their  defeat  on  that 
occasion  they  learned  a  severe  lesson.  In  the  following  year 
they  signalized  their  entrance  into  independent  politics  by 
electing  a  large  number  of  labor  members  to  the  various  state 
parliaments.  At  this  time  the  Australian  Socialist  League, 
founded  in  1887,  did  excellent  propaganda.  In  1892  there  was 
a  congress  at  Sydney   for  the  purpose  of  uniting  the  various 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN  OTHER   COUNTRIES  355 

socialist  bodies  that  had  sprung  up  in  different  states,  but  by 
1896  this  had  disappeared.  The  labor  movement  fought  shy 
of  socialism,  while  the  question  of  protection  versus  free  trade 
has  hindered  progress  generally.  However,  during  the  past 
few  years  quiet  work  has  been  done  by  the  Socialist  League  in 
South  Wales,  the  Social  Democratic  Party  in  Victoria,  the 
Social  Democratic  Vanguard  in  Queensland,  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Federation  in  Western  Austraha,  and  the  Clarion  Fellow- 
ship in  Adelaide.  Tom  Mann,  formerly  of  England,  has  been 
the  guiding  spirit  at  Melbourne,  giving  up  work  with  the  Politi- 
cal Labor  Council  about  two  years  ago  to  go  for  out-and-out 
socialism.  As  an  incident  in  the  socialists'  fight  for  free  speech 
Mann  was  sentenced  to  five  weeks  in  jail.  In  New  South 
Wales  especially,  as  the  result  of  Mann's  work,  there  is  now  an 
excellent  and  virile  organization,  with  a  socialist  Sunday  school 
in  Melbourne  that  is  doing  good  work. 

The  trade  union  movement  is  very  strong,  and  signs  are 
multiplying  that  it  is  becoming  permeated  with  the  spirit  of 
the  class  struggle.  To  a  certain  extent  the  Labor  Party  have 
been  forced  to  come  out  into  the  open  because  of  being 
labelled  socialists  by  their  opponents  ;  and  at  the  Interstate 
Labor  Convention  in  1905,  the  following  was  decided  upon 
as  an  objective  :  "  The  securing  of  the  full  results  of  their  in- 
dustry to  all  producers  by  collective  ownership  of  monopolies, 
and  the  extension  of  the  industrial  and  economic  functions  of 
the  state."  The  Labor  Party  have  over  a  third  of  the  repre- 
sentatives in  the  various  parliaments,  a  large  proportion  of 
whom  are  avowed  socialists,  and  in  the  Federal  Parliament, 
where  for  five  months  in  1904  they  were  in  power,  two-thirds 
of  the  labor  men  are  socialists. 

So  far  as  socialistic  legislation  is  concerned.  New  Zealand 
is  far  ahead  of  any  other  country.  They  have  universal 
suffrage  for  men  and  women,  graduated  land  and  income  taxes, 
drastic  factory  laws,  conciliation  laws,  old-age  pensions,  etc., 
but  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that  at  present  there  is  much  dis- 


356  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

content  among  the  industrial  workers,  and  the  country  is 
being  troubled  by  the  problem  of  unemployment.  Attempts 
are  being  made  to  get  the  labor  organizations  to  adopt  a 
socialist  platform. 

Canada.  —  During  the  eighties  much  excellent  propaganda 
was  done  by  numerous  socialist  parties  and  leagues  in  this 
vast  and  sparsely  populated  country,  especially  in  British 
Columbia;  but  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  1904  that  the 
Canadian  Socialist  Party  was  founded.  Notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  Canada  is  but  a  new  country,  a  large  proportion  of 
the  inhabitants  are  industrial  proletarians,  and  socialism  has 
therefore  found  fertile  soil.  In  February,  1907,  the  party 
succeeded  in  electing  three  socialist  members  to  the  parliament 
of  British  Columbia,  and  in  other  cases  they  were  only  just 
beaten  by  a  few  votes.  In  Toronto  the  party  is  also  very  active, 
especially  in  the  municipal  elections.  The  trade  union  move- 
ment is  strong,  but  although  socialistically  inclined,  is  not  yet 
disposed  to  declare  straight  out  for  socialism.  So  that  at  the 
twenty-second  annual  Trades  and  Labor  Congress,  held 
in  Victoria,  it  was  decided  to  form  an  independent  Labor 
Party,  and  to  work  after  the  manner  of  the  Labor  Party  in 
England. 

America.  —  Because  of  its  cheap  land  and  political  liberty 
America  was  for  the  first  half  of  last  century  the  experimental 
ground  for  all  manner  of  communist  and  political  schemes. 
The  number  of  communities  and  brotherhoods  established, 
each  with  its  own  particular  panacea,  amounted  to  several 
hundreds.  The  Owenite,  Icarian,  and  Fourieristic  movements 
attained  large  proportions,  and  in  particular  the  latter  attracted 
the  sympathy  and  active  support  of  many  prominent  writers 
and  public  men.  But  all  these  experiments  had  little  or  no 
effect  upon  the  modern  socialist  movement,  and  after  the 
Civil  War  there  was  hardly  anything  left  of  their  various 
organizations.  For  some  time  the  whole  country  was  absorbed 
in  repairing  the  effects  of  the  war,  industry  flourished  in  an 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  357 

unprecedented  manner,  and  the  people  generally  were  too 
busy  for  politics.  In  1870  there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  labor, 
but  it  only  needed  a  few  years  of  the  feverish  industrialism 
which  prevailed  to  bring  about  crises  which  resulted  in  a 
permanent  standing  army  of  a  million  unemployed  workmen. 

There  are  many  things  which  would  account  for  what 
might  be  called  the  backwardness  of  the  socialist  movement 
in  America.  It  might  be  said  that  the  transition  from  a  com- 
paratively prosperous  state  of  affairs  to  one  of  industrial 
anarchy,  with  its  concomitant  of  surplus  labor,  has  been  too 
swift  to  allow  of  the  people  acquiring  that  spirit  of  class-con- 
sciousness out  of  which  have  grown  the  socialist  movements  of 
Europe.  And,  with  its  "  democratic  "  institutions,  there  has 
been  no  such  common  cause  as  the  fight  for  the  suffrage, 
which  has  been  so  much  of  a  unifying  and  educational  force 
among  the  proletariat  of  other  countries.  Again,  the  vastness 
of  the  country  has  been  a  great  drawback.  There  has  cer- 
tainly not  been  union  among  the  socialists  themselves,  but  it 
is  very  easy  to  overstate  the  retarding  effect  of  such  want  of 
unity.  Undoubtedly  the  principal  obstacle  has  been  that, 
while  numerous  exotic  socialist  societies  have  sprung  up  during 
the  last  fifty  years  as  a  consequence  of  the  presence  in  Amer- 
ica of  a  population  of  widely  different  nationalities,  the  very 
difference  of  language  and  characteristics  of  the  immigrants 
has  militated  against  a  union  of  the  workers.  Even  when  they 
had  been  brought  together  in  trade  unions,  they  displayed,  up 
to  quite  recently,  a  positively  hostile  attitude  toward  political 
action.  So  that,  fully  considered,  it  must  be  said  that  in  face 
of  such  formidable  difficulties,  in  what  they  have  accomplished 
up  to  the  present,  the  socialists  of  America  have  done  remark- 
ably good  work. 

In  the  early  seventies  a  number  of  sections  of  the  Interna- 
tional Working  Men's  Association  were  started,  mainly  by  im- 
migrants and  political  refugees  from  Europe ;  and  when  the 
seat  of  the  Central  Council  of  the  International  was  removed 


358  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

to  America  a  short  time  before  its  decease,  there  was  an  active 
period  of  sociaUst  propaganda,  which  was  accelerated  by  the 
spreading  industrial  depression.  In  1876  the  various  organiza- 
tions were  brought  together,  and  the  Working  Men's  Party  of 
the  United  States  was  founded,  changing  its  name  a  year  later 
to  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  of  North  America.  For  twenty 
years  this  was  the  chief  organization  in  the  socialist  movement. 
As  not  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  the  membership  were  native 
Americans,  the  young  party  was  confronted  by  the  gigantic  task 
of  "  naturalizing"  the  heterogeneous  elements,  and  progress  was 
inevitably  slow.  An  attempt  was  made  to  convert  the  rapidly 
growing  trade  union  movement,  but  the  socialists  received  any- 
thing but  encouragement  from  the  union  leaders.  Faihng  to 
make  any  impression,  therefore,  a  section  of  the  socialists  de- 
clared that  it  was  not  worth  while  troubling  about  the  trade 
unions.  Following  strictly  independent  tactics  the  sociaUst 
party  participated  in  elections,  but  it  was  only  during  temporary 
periods  of  unsettled  trade  conditions  that  they  polled  any  con- 
siderable vote.  It  seemed  as  if  the  workers  would  only  give 
attention  to  politics  when  they  were  on  "  short  time  "  or  out  of 
work  altogether.  By  1878  the  membership  of  the  Socialist 
Labor  Party  had  grown  to  10,000,  but  during  the  subsequent 
trade  depression  it  dwindled  to  about  2000.  Eight  papers 
in  English  which  had  been  started  did  not  survive  above 
a  year,  but  the  "New  Yorker  Volkzeitung"  has  continued 
until  it  is  to-day  the  leading  German  socialist  newspaper  in 
America. 

For  several  years  the  energies  of  the  party  were  taken  up  in 
fighting  the  vigorous  anarchist  movement  which  was  developing. 
Various  revolutionary  clubs  had  come  together  and  formed  the 
Revolutionary  Socialist  Party  in  1881,  finding  a  popular  leader 
in  John  Most,  who  had  been  excluded  from  the  German  Social 
Democratic  Party,  and  had  served  terms  of  imprisonment  in 
Germany,  Austria,  and  England  because  of  his  revolutionary 
writings.   The  movement  was  transformed  into  the  International 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  359 

Working  People's  Association,  on  a  basis  of  "  social  revolution- 
ism," and  with  its  main  strength  in  Chicago.  The  depletion  of 
the  membership  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  which  in  1883 
hardly  counted  1500,  was  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  new 
organization,  in  which  the  workers  thought  they  had  found  a 
more  effective  instrument  for  the  achievement  of  better  con- 
ditions of  life.  Vain  attempts  were  made  to  unite  the  two 
bodies,  and  a  bitter  fight  ensued.  Manifestoes  and  counter- 
manifestoes  were  issued,  and  the  socialists  declared,  "We  do  not 
share  the  folly  of  the  men  who  consider  dynamite  bombs  as  the 
best  means  of  agitation."  Meanwhile  both  parties  had  an  ac- 
cession of  members,  the  "International"  in  1885  having  a 
membership  of  7000. 

In  that  year  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  principal 
organization  of  trade  unions,  revived  the  agitation  for  an  eight- 
hour  day.  In  this  the  revolutionary  party  took  a  prominent 
lead  in  Chicago.  There  were  many  collisions  with  the  police 
and  riots,  culminating  in  the  memorable  Haymarket  affair. 
A  squad  of  police  suddenly  presented  themselves  at  the  finish 
of  a  meeting,  and  just  outside  the  hall  a  bomb  was  thrown 
among  them,  killing  one  and  wounding  others.  Indiscriminate 
shooting  ensued,  and  besides  numerous  wounded,  seven  police- 
men and  four  civilians  were  killed.  The  leaders  of  the  "  In- 
ternational "  were  tried  for  murder,  and  although  not  the 
remotest  connection  could  be  established  between  the  defend- 
ants and  the  bomb-throwing,  August  Spies,  Samuel  Fielden, 
Michael  Schwab,  Albert  R.  Parsons,  Adolph  Fischer,  George 
Engel,  and  Louis  Lingg  were  sentenced  to  death.  In  the  case 
of  Schwab  and  Fielden  the  sentence  was  commuted,  Lingg 
committed  suicide  in  prison,  and  the  other  four  were  hanged. 
The  Haymarket  affair  was  the  end  of  the  International  Working 
People's  Association. 

In  1886,  extensive  lecture  tours  by  Wilhelm  Liebknecht 
and  Eleanor  Marx  Aveling,  the  daughter  of  Karl  Marx,  did 
much  to  aid  the  growth  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party.    Politically, 


36o  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

the  socialists  had  a  very  chequered  career.  At  first  they  had 
declared  for  the  abolition  of  the  position  of  President  of  the 
United  States,  but  in  1880  they  allied  themselves  with  the 
Greenbackers,  a  party  originally  founded  upon  a  program  of  cur- 
rency reform,  on  their  adopting  a  socialistic  platform ;  but 
after  the  presidential  election  the  alliance  was  dissolved.  In 
1886  the  lively  campaign  of  Henry  George  in  New  York  was 
supported  by  the  socialists,  although  they  did  not  accept  his 
views.  It  was  a  painful  lesson  for  them,  and  they  resumed  their 
independent  attitude.  In  1892  they  made  their  first  presidential 
nomination,  and  their  vote  gradually  increased  until  in  1898 
they  polled  82,204. 

Meanwhile  the  economic  organizations  of  the  workers  were 
making  rapid  strides.  The  Knights  of  Labor,  established  for 
the  uniting  of  the  trade  unions,  in  order  "  to  secure  for  the 
workers  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  wealth  they  create,"  developed 
until  in  1886  it  had  over  half  a  million  members,  an  accession 
due  in  great  measure  to  the  "strike  fever."  Its  disintegration, 
however,  began  shortly  afterward,  until  now  there  are  but 
a  few  thousand  adherents.  Another  organization  of  unions 
which  had  started  in  1881,  was  five  years  later  transformed  into 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  with  Samuel  Gompers  as 
first  president.  In  a  year's  time  it  counted  a  membership  of 
618,000,  and  at  the  present  day,  something  over  2,000,000 
members  are  affiliated.  The  Federation  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  politics,  and  the  leaders  especially  resisted  strongly  the 
attempts  made  from  time  to  time  by  socialists  to  obtain  a  decla- 
ration of  socialist  principles. 

The  Socialist  Labor  Party  now  assumed  an  attitude  of  bitter 
hostility  toward  the  trade  union  movement,  and  in  a  resolution 
passed  in  1896  declared  that  the  trade  union  organizations 
were  "  hopelessly  corrupt."  With  the  idea  of  drawing  from  the 
Federation  the  large  number  of  unionists  who  were  socialistically 
inclined,  a  Socialist  Trade  and  Labor  Alliance  was  founded  ; 
but  it  only  accentuated  the  difficulties,  and  far  from  attaining  its 


THE   MOVEMENT   IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  361 

object,  it  was  the  means  of  splitting  up  the  Socialist  Labor 
Party  itself. 

In  1897  a  new  movement  had  been  started  under  the  title  of 
the  Social  Democracy  of  America,  primarily  to  further  colo- 
nizing schemes.  It  grew  in  numbers,  but  two  years  later  split 
upon  the  question  of  colonization  versus  political  action.  The 
politicians,  headed  by  Victor  L.  Berger,  were  in  a  minority,  and 
seceded  in  order  to  establish  the  Social  Democratic  Party  of 
America.  The  new  party  included  Eugene  V.  Debs,  who  had 
come  into  prominence  as  the  organizer  of  the  great  railroad 
strike,  as  an  incident  of  which  he  had  served  six  months  in  jail. 
Terms  of  unity  with  the  pro-union  section  of  the  Socialist  Labor 
Party  were  discussed,  and  amalgamation  had  been  almost  com- 
pleted when  there  was  division  in  the  ranks  of  the  Social  Dem- 
ocrats. Thus  both  the  social  parties  were  split.  It  had  been 
agreed,  however,  that  Eugene  V.  Debs,  of  the  Social  Democrats, 
should  be  nominated  for  President  of  the  United  States,  with 
Job  Harriman,  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  as  Vice-President, 
and  during  the  campaign  much  of  the  bitterness  between  the 
various  sections  was  wiped  out ;  and  under  the  name  of  "  The 
Socialist  Party,"  they  were  united  at  a  convention  held  in  Indian- 
apolis, in  July,  1901,  when  it  was  reckoned  that  about  10,000 
members  were  affiliated. 

From  that  day  the  Socialist  Party  has  steadily  grown,  while 
the  influence  of  the  senior  party  has  rapidly  decUned.  The 
Socialist  Party  has  now  about  35,000  members  who  pay  dues  of 
three  dollars  a  year  each.  At  the  presidential  election  of  1904, 
when  Debs  was  again  nominated,  the  socialist  poll  was  409,230, 
as  against  223,494  in  1902.  The  socialist  press  has  increased 
enormously,  and  now  numbers  over  fifty  journals.  Half  of  these 
are  in  English,  eight  are  in  German,  of  which  two  are  daiHes, 
four  in  Yiddish,  as  well  as  papers  for  Finns,  Italians,  Hungarians, 
Czechs,  Poles,  Letts,  Lithuanians,  Slavs,  and  Swedes.  The  So- 
cialist Labor  Party  has  published  "The  People  "  daily  for  four 
years,  and  the  Socialist  Party  is  now  represented  among  dailies 


362  SOCIALISTS  AT  WORK 

hy  "  The  Chicago  Daily  Sociahst."     Of  the  weeklies,  "  The  Ap- 
peal to  Reason  "  has  a  circulation  of  about  300,000. 

Undoubtedly,  of  recent  years,  the  cause  of  socialism  has 
made  considerable  progress,  and  the  most  encouraging  sign  is 
the  fairly  rapid  permeation  that  is  going  on  in  the  trade  unions. 
Many  large  organizations  have  definitely  endorsed  the  socialist 
program.  These  unions  have  a  total  membership  of  350,000, 
but  in  addition  there  are  many  big  unions  having  a  large  pro- 
portion of  sociahsts  who  have  not  passed  resolutions.  Reports 
are  multiplying  of  the  strong  tendency  toward  socialism  that 
is  manifesting  itself  throughout  the  whole  economic  movement, 
and  at  least  twenty  of  the  trade  union  journals  are  consistent 
advocates  for  the  cause.  A  large  number  of  brilliant  journaHsts 
and  university  men  are  sympathetic,  and  there  is  an  Inter- 
collegiate Socialist  Society,  which  exercises  a  considerable  in- 
fluence in  a  quiet  way  in  the  universities.  In  1905,  Mrs. 
Carrie  Rand  left  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  establishment  of  an 
institution  for  the  teaching  of  socialism  and  the  social  sciences, 
and  the  Rand  School  of  Social  Sciences  in  New  York  is  now 
occupying  an  important  place  in  the  advance  of  socialism. 

Special  mention  must  be  made  of  the  achievements  of  the 
socialists  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  and  especially  in  Milwaukee. 
In  the  State  Legislature  the  six  socialist  members  have  intro- 
duced no  less  than  72  measures  of  industrial  and  political  reform, 
about  a  fourth  of  which  have  been  put  on  the  statute  book. 
They  have  got  established  an  eight-hour  day  for  telegraphers,  and 
important  modifications  in  child  labor  laws.  In  the  Milwaukee 
City  Council  the  party  has  twelve  socialist  aldermen,  and  among 
other  things,  they  have  got  established  a  public  electric  light- 
ing system,  secured  a  three-cent  fare  on  a  part  of  the  street-car 
system,  and  an  increased  tax  on  street  railway  property. 

The  story  of  the  attempt  to  put  to  death  Haywood,  Moyer, 
and  Pettibone,  officials  of  the  Western  Miners'  Federation,  is  too 
fresh  in  the  public  mind  to  need  more  than  mentioning.  Not 
only  did  the  affair  attract  world-wide  attention,  but  it  had  a 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN   OTHER   COUNTRIES  363 

wonderful  effect  upon  the  whole  working-class  movement  of 
America.  Taken  in  conjunction  with  the  recent  setting  aside 
by  the  law  courts  of  much  protective  labor  legislation,  and  the 
aggressive  action  of  employers'  associations  and  citizen  alliances, 
it  has  done  much  to  teach  the  workers  the  necessity  for  united 
political  action.  The  unprecedented  industrial  depression, 
with  the  appalling  number  of  unemployed,  is  having  its  inevita- 
ble effect,  —  the  trade  union  organizations  are  turning  to  inde- 
pendent, class-conscious  politics.  And  signs  are  multiplying 
of  a  decidedly  unifying  force  throughout  the  whole  socialist  and 
labor  movement. 


A  FEW  AUTHORITIES 

There  is  an  extensive  literature  upon  the  program  of  socialism. 
"Modern  Socialism,"  edited  by  R.  C.  K.  Ensor  (Harper  Brothers, 
1904),  is  a  collection  of  the  speeches  and  writings  of  the  foremost 
socialists,  and  includes  programs  and  documents  of  fundamental 
importance.  "  Socialism  and  Social  Reform,"  by  Richard  T.  Ely 
(Crowell  and  Co.,  1894),  covers  somewhat  the  same  field.  It  is  less 
authoritative,  but  reviews  the  main  doctrines  of  socialism,  and  in- 
cludes in  an  appendix  some  important  programs,  manifestoes,  and 
other  official  papers.  "  The  Fabian  Tracts  "  deal  with  a  wide  range 
of  subjects  and  give  the  attitude  of  the  English  socialists  upon 
nearly  all  questions  of  municipal  and  industrial  reform.  "  Le 
SociaHsme  Frangais,"  by  A.  M'llerand  (Paris,  1903),  and  a  bio- 
graphical sketch,  "  L'CEuvre  de  Millerand,"  by  A.  Lavy,  express 
pretty  fully  the  attitude  of  the  French  reformists.  "  Essais  Social- 
istes "  by  Emile  Vandervelde  (Paris,  1906),  gives  the  sociaHst 
position  in  regard  to  alcoholism,  religion,  and  other  matters.  Per- 
haps the  most  important  volumes  treating  critically  the  program  of 
socialism  are  "  Socialisme  Th^orique  et  Socialdemocratie  Pratique," 
by  Ed.  Bernstein  (Paris,  1903),  and  '•  Le  Marxisme,"  by  Karl  Kautsky 
(Paris,  1900).  No  one  who  is  interested  in  socialism  should  fail 
to  read  with  care  the  Communist  Manifesto  by  Marx  and  Engels 
(Kerr  and  Co.,  Chicago),  and  an  interesting  critique  by  Marx  upon 
the  socialist  program,  "  A  Propos  d'Unit^,  —  lettre  sur  le  programme 
de  Gotha"  (Paris,  1901). 

The  attitude  of  socialists  upon  agrarian  questions  is  not  well 
defined.  There  are,  however,  several  books  by  prominent  socialists 
which  can  be  consulted ;  notably  "  La  Question  Agraire,"  by  Karl 
Kautsky  (Paris,  1900),  and  "  La  Politique  Agraire"  (Paris,  1900), 
by  the  same  author;  "  Le  Socialisme  et  PAgriculture,"  by  G.  Gatti 
(Paris,  1902);  "The  American  Farmer,"  by  A.  M.  Simons  (Kerr 
and  Co.)  ;  and  "  La  Question  Agraire  en  Belgique,"  by  Emile  Van- 
dervelde.    With  regard  to    militarism,  two    interesting   books   are 

364 


A   FEW  AUTHORITIES  365 

"Leur   Patrie,"   by   Gustave  Herve,  and  "  Militarismus  und  Anti- 
militarismus,"  by  Dr.  Karl  Liebknecht  (Leipzig,  1907). 

By  far  the  most  important  contributions  upon  the  details  of  the 
socialist  program  are  the  thousands  of  pamphlets  and  tracts  issued 
for  propaganda  purposes  by  the  various  national  parties.  These 
can  be  obtained  of  socialist  publishers,  or  at  the  national  offices 
of  the  parties.  For  France  they  can  be  got  at  16,  rue  de  la  Cor- 
derie,  Paris;  Germany,  Buchhandlung  Vorvvarts,  Berlin,  SW,  68, 
Lindenstrasse ;  Belgium,  "  Maison  du  Peuple,"  rue  Joseph  Stevens, 
Brussels ;  America,  Charles  Kerr  and  Co.,  264  East  Kinzie  Street, 
Chicago ;  and  in  England,  of  the  Labor  Party,  28,  Victoria  Street, 
London,  S.W. ;  the  Social  Democratic  Party,  37  a,  Clerkenwell  Green, 
London,  E.G. ;  and  the  Independent  Labor  Party,  23,  Bride  Lane, 
Fleet  Street,  London,  E.G. 

Upon  the  doctrines  of  socialism,  three  important  books  for  gen- 
eral readers  are  written  by  non-socialists  —  "  Socialism,"  by  Werner 
Sombart  (Putnams,  1898);  "The  Quintessence  of  Socialism,"  by 
Dr.  A.  Schaeffle  (Scribner's  Sons);  and  ''An  Inquiry  into  Social- 
ism," by  Thomas  Kirkup  (Longmans,  Green  and  Co.,  1887). 

The  partisan  view  is  expressed  with  extreme  simplicity  in  "From 
Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  by  J.  Keir  Hardie  (George  Allen,  London), 
as  well  a';  in  "  Merrie  England"  and  "  Britain  for  the  British,"  by 
Robert  Blatchford  (Kerr  and  Co.)  ;  while  "The  Cooperative  Com- 
monwealth," by  Laurence  Gronlund  (Boston,  1900)  ;  "  Socialism,"  by 
John  Spargo  (Macmillan,  1906);  "The  Social  Revolution,"  by 
Karl  Kautsky,  and  "  Collectivism,"  by  Emile  Vandervelde  (Kerr 
and  Co.),  are  all  important  contributions.  "  Studies  in  Socialism," 
by  Jean  Jaures  (Putnams,  1906),  "Principes  Socialistes,"  by  Gabriel 
Deville  (Paris,  1898),  and  the  Fabian  Essays  (London,  1904),  will 
also  be  found  helpful  to  the  general  reader. 

"The  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,"  which  is  a  basic  doc- 
trine in  the  socialist  philosophy,  is  fully  elaborated  by  Professor 
E.  R.  A.  Seligman.  a  non-socialist  (Macmillan,  1903).  "Essays  on 
the  Materialistic  Conception  of  History,"  by  Antonio  Labriola 
(Kerr  and  Co.,  1904),  and  "Economic  Foundations  of  Society,"  by 
Achille  Loria  (Scribner's  Sons,  1899),  are  books  in  the  same  field. 
The  historic  basis  of  socialism  is  treated  in  a  powerful  sketch  by 
Frederick  Engels,  "Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific"  (Scribner's, 
1892)  ;  and  in  "  Historic  Basis  of  Socialism  in  England,"  by  H.  M. 


366  SOCIALISTS   AT   WORK 

Hyndman  (London,  1883),  and  "  Commercial  Crises  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century"  (Scribner's,  1892),  by  the  same  author. 

Socialist  economics  is  extensively  treated  in  nearly  all  of  the 
above  volumes ;  but  the  special  student  should  consult  "  Capital," 
by  Karl  Marx.  The  first  two  volumes  are  translated  into  English 
(Kerr  and  Co.).  A  rapid  review  of  the  doctrines  of  the  first  volume 
is  made  by  Edward  Aveling  in  "  The  Student's  Marx  "  (Scribner's, 
1902) .  Other  books  are  "  Economics  of  Socialism,"  by  H.  M.  Hynd- 
man (London,  1896),  and  "Landmarks  of  Scientific  Socialism,"  by 
Frederick  Engels  (Kerr  and  Co.,  1907). 

Necessarily  the  chapter  on  "Socialism  and  Social  Reform"  is 
based  very  largely  upon  curi-ent  events,  and  much  of  the  material 
comes  from  the  various  socialist  newspapers,  journals,  magazines, 
and  official  publications.  These  are  altogether  too  numerous  to  be 
mentioned,  but  the  most  important  are  "  The  Labour  Leader,"  "  The 
Clarion,"  and"  Justice,"  in  England;  "Le  Peuple"  and  "  Le  Mouve- 
ment  Communale,"in  Belgium;  "L'Humanit^,"  "  Le  Socialiste,"  and 
"LeMouvement  Socialiste,"  in  France;  "Vorvvarts  "  and  "Die  Neue 
Zeit,"  in  Germany;  "Avanti,"  in  Italy;  and  "The  International  Socialist 
Review,"  Chicago.  The  attitude  of  the  socialists  toward  social  re- 
form, as  expressed  in  the  decisions  of  the  International  congresses, 
is  very  clearly  worked  out  in  "  La  Tactique  Socialiste,"  by  Edgar 
Milhaud  (Paris,  1905).  The  respective  opinions  of  the  revisionists 
and  the  Marxists  on  this  matter  are  expressed  by  Bernstein  and 
Kautsky  in  the  books  mentioned  above.  The  renaissance  in  the 
Latin  countries  of  the  Proudhonian  view  is  best  expressed  by  the 
various  organs  of  the  new  syndicalism,  and  by  a  valuable  collection  of 
documents  upon  "  La  Greve  G^n^rale  et  le  Socialisme,"  edited  by 
Hubert  Lagardelle  (Paris).  The  opposite  view  is  given  in  a  bro- 
chure by  Karl  Kautsky,  "Politique  et  Syndicats"  (Paris,  1903),  and 
the  current  combat  against  this  tendency  can  be  followed  in  the  new 
journal  edited  by  Jules  Guesde,  "  Le  Socialisme."  The  Fabian 
position  is  clearly  stated  in  the  Fabian  Tract  No.  70,  and  also  in  an 
extremely  interesting  pamphlet,  "  The  Fabian  Society  ;  its  early  his- 
tory," by  G.  Bernard  Shaw. 

There  is  no  book  describing  the  organization  and  standing  of  the 
socialist  parties  throughout  Europe.  Professor  Edgar  Milhaud,  of 
Geneva,  has  written  an  extremely  interesting  study  of  the  German 
movement,  "La  D^mocracie  Sociahste  Allemande "  (Paris,  1903). 


A  FEW  AUTHORITIES  367 

J.  Destree  and  Emile  Vandervelde  have  issued  a  complete  review  of 
the  progress  of  the  Belgian  movement,  "  Le  Socialisme  en  Belgique," 
while  Louis  Bertrand  has  given  in  two  volumes  each,  "  Histoire  de 
la  Co-ope'ration  en  Belgique  "  and  •'  Histoire  de  la  Democratie  et  du 
Socialisme."  Paul  Louis  has  prepared  three  studies,  "  Histoire  du 
Socialisme  P"ran9ais,"  "  Les  Etapes  du  Socialisme,"  and  "  L'Avenir 
du  Socialisme.'"  An  interesting  volume  by  a  non-socialist  is 
"  Essais  sur  le  Mouvement  Ouvrier  en  France "  by  Daniel 
Halevy  (Paris.  1901).  Sidney  Webb's  "  History  of  Trades  Union- 
ism in  England  "  barely  touches  the  movement  of  the  last  twenty 
years. 

By  far  the  most  important  sources  of  information  are,  of  course, 
the  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the  various  congresses,  national 
and  international.  Some  of  them  are  very  difficult  to  obtain,  but 
there  may  be  mentioned  the  reports  of  the  German  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party  from  1880  to  1906 ;  of  the  general  congresses  of  French 
socialist  organizations  from  1899  to  1902;  of  the  Parti  Socialiste 
(Section  Frangaise  de  Tlnternationale  Ouvriere)  from  1905  to  1907; 
of  the  congresses  of  the  Belgian  Labor  Party  from  1886;  of  the 
British  Labor  Party  from  1900;  and  of  the  International  Congresses 
at  Paris,  Brussels,  Zurich,  London,  Paris,  Amsterdam,  and  Stuttgart. 
A  most  useful  little  book  is  the  collection  of  the  agendas  and  reso- 
lutions of  the  International  Congresses  up  to  that  at  Amsterdam. 
*'  L'Internationale  ;  documents  et  souvenirs,"  by  James  Guillaume 
(Paris,  1905),  is  anti-Marxist,  but  contains  a  resume  of  nearly  all  the 
official  documents  issued  by  the  first  International.  Enormous  and 
very  difficult  to  consult  is  a  multitude  of  biographical  studies  of  the 
leaders  and  militants  of  the  movement.  Mention  might  be  made, 
however,  of  "Karl  Marx,"  by  Wilhelm  Liebknecht  (Kerr  and  Co.)  ; 
"Wilhelm  Liebknecht,"  by  Kurt  Eisner  (Berlin,  1906);  '' L"En- 
fermd."  by  Gustave  Geffroy,  a  thrilling  study  of  Blanqui ;  "  German 
Socialism  and  Lassalle"  and  "  Bismarck  and  State  Socialism,"  by 
William  H.  Dawson  (Scribner's)  ;  "  Ferdinand  Lassalle  and  Social 
Reform,"  by  Edward  Bernstein  (Scribner's)  ;  "  Memoire  d'un  Com- 
munard," by  Jean  Allemane  (Paris)  ;  "  Life  of  William  Morris,"  by 
J.  W.  Mackail  (Longmans,  1901),  and  "Bernard  Shaw,"  by  Hol- 
brook  Jackson  (Jacobs  and  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1907). 


INDEX 


Adler,  Victor,  76,  252,  323,  334. 
Agrarianism,  200,  329. 
Alcoholism,  199. 
Allemane,  Jean,  65,  68,  82. 
Allen,  Grant,  96,  263. 
America,  10,  27,  81,  144,  17I)  i^o, 
185,  188,  208,  217,  219,  311,  356. 
Amicis,  De,  32,  263. 
Amsterdam  Congress,   75,   97,   203, 

318.  319- 

Anakine,  254. 

Anarchism  and  anarchists,   59,   61, 

67,  155.  236,  302.  305.  3°9.  359- 
Anseele,  76,  133,  139,  i47- 
Antisemites,  14. 
Arbitration,  6. 
Argentina,  311,  354- 
Arnold,  Matthew,  259,  262,  316. 
Astor,  Mr.,  167. 
Atheism,  231. 
Auer,  8. 

Australia,  311,  354- 
Austria,  183,  189,  202,  212,  310,  332. 
Aveling,  Edward,  224. 

BabcEuf,  314. 

Bakounine,    Michael,    41,    65,    66, 

137,  261,  262,  305,  327. 
Ballot,  Second,  216. 
Bax,  Belfort,  89. 
Bebel,  2,  6,  8,  12,  13,  23,  24,  26,  48, 

75.    76,    77.    201,    214,    221,    224, 

309.  3".  323- 
Becsley,  Professor,  88,  261. 

Belfast  Congress,  no. 

Belgium,  8,  10,  34,  81,  128,  183,  189, 

193.  19s.  197.  190,  202. 
Bellamy,  Edward,  288. 
Belmont,  Mr.,  180. 
Berger,  Victor,  361. 
Berlin,  204. 
Bernstein,  Edward,  168,  200,  203. 


Bertrand,  Louis,  129,  133,  138,  141. 
Besant,  Mrs.  Annie,  93. 
Beveren,  Van,  133. 
Biesbroeck,  Van,  263,  265. 
Bismarck,   23,   24,  26,  27,  28,  214, 

221,  223,  224,  227,  233,  234,  310. 
Blanc,  Louis,  205,  314. 
Bland,  Hubert,  89. 
Blanqui,  59. 

Blanquists,  58,  65,  68,  303,  309. 
Blatchford,  Robert,  99,  114,  233. 
Bradford,  103,  105. 
Bradlaugh,  88. 
Brazil,  311. 
Breslau,  185. 

Briand,  Aristide,  85,  86,  206,  250. 
Brismee,  Desire,  132. 
Brouckere,  Louis  de,  130,  138. 
Brousse,  Paul,  65,  66,  68. 
Brussels,  130,  133,  134,  204. 
Bryan,  William,  251. 
Buchner,  6. 

Buelow,  Von,  14,  16,  214,  257. 
Bulgaria,  351. 
Burne- Jones,  284. 
Burns,  John,  48,  89,  90,  92,  93,  97, 

100,  loi,  206. 
Burrows,  Herbert,  89,  93,  114- 

Cabet,  314. 

Campbell-Bannerman,  257. 

Canada,  356. 

Capital  punishment,  6. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  259,  260,  262,  299. 

Carpenter,  Edward,  89,  104,  263. 

Cattelli,  32. 

Chambers  of  Labor,  36, 

Champion,  90. 

Charlottenberg,  185. 

Chemnitz,  194. 

Chiaruggi,  32. 

Chicago,  43- 


2B 


369 


370 


INDEX 


Chiesa,  Pietro,  3$. 
Child  labor,  6,  30,  136,  178. 
ChiU,  353. 

Christianity,  135,  294,  295. 
Christian  Socialists,  96. 
"  Clarion,"  99. 

Class  struggle,  154,  244.     See  Pref- 
ace. 
Cleraenceau,  65,  85,  215,  238,  245, 

257- 
Clement,  J.  B.,  65. 
Clericals,  14,  16,  20,  51,  141. 
Cologne,  8,  194. 

Colonial  policy,  200;  in  Germany,  18. 
Colorado,  43,  213. 
Commune,  the  Paris,  59,  72. 
Communist  Alliance,  155. 
Communist  Manifesto,  162,  300. 
Compensation,  228. 
Confiscation,  125,  232,  240. 
Considerant,  314. 
Cooperation,  58,  60,  138,  139,  141, 

145.  147.  298- 
Corruption,  43,  44,  179,  181,  182. 
Costa,  Andrea,  41. 
Cowen,  Joseph,  88. 
Crane,  Walter,  89,  263. 
Crfeches,  197. 
Crefeld,  185. 
Crises,  commercial,  160. 
Crispi,  39,  42. 
Crooks,  Will,  230. 
Curran,  Pete,  113,  116. 

D'Annunzio,  32. 
David,  334. 

Davidson,  Professor,  89. 
Debs,  Eugene  V.,  361. 
Decentralization,  67. 
Dcgroux,  Charles,  265. 
Dclory,  Gustave,  79. 
Denmark,  34,  310,  344. 
Destrce,  Jules,  138. 
Dcvillc,  Gabriel,  309. 
Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  88. 
Dock  strike,  94. 
Dreyfus  affair,  72,  238,  249. 
Drink  traffic,  199. 
DuBois,  265. 
Duma,  the,  253,  330. 
Diisseldorf,  185. 


Eeden,  Frederick  van,  291. 
Emilia,  35. 

Engels,    Frederick,    154,    160,    241, 
261,    262,    300,     302,    307,     311, 

315- 
England,  8,  10,  22,  48,  52,  81,  128, 
171,  184,  188,  211,  216,  233,  235, 

302,  311.  315- 
Erfurt  program,  169. 
Evolution,    economic,    see    Chapter 

VI. 
E.xpropriation,  240,  241,  244. 

Fabian  Society  and  Fabianism,  89, 

93.  94.  96,  98,  100,  105.  109,  188, 

191,  199,  203,  207,  208. 
Factor}'  legislation,  187. 
Feeding    of    school    children,    116, 

197,  230. 
Ferrero,  32. 
Ferri,   31,   32,   35,   48,   49.    76,   238, 

263. 
Finland,  183,  199,  337. 
Fogazzaro,  32,  290. 
Forest  school  in  Germany,  198. 
Fourier,  Charles,  160. 
Fourni^re,  63,  68. 
France,  38,  48,  114,  126,  187,  193, 

19s,  197,  198,  201,  211,  233,  235, 

271,  302. 
France,  Anatole,  263. 
Franco-Prussian  war,  24. 
Frankfort,  185. 
Freiligrath,  259. 
Freisinnige,  16. 
Free  love,  125,  195,  231,  232. 
Free  speech,  256. 
Free  Trade,  16. 

Gallifet,  General  de,  72. 

Gambetta,  238. 

Garibaldi,  41,  88,  309. 

Geneva,  60. 

George,  Henry,  162,  218,  360. 

Germany,  i,  34,  81,  114,  171,  184. 

193,  211,  233,  235,  302. 
Ghent,  cooperation,  132,  144,    189, 

266;    Vooruit,  146. 
Giolitti,  201. 
Gissing,  George,  276. 
Gladstone,  88,  89. 


INDEX 


371 


Glasier,  Bruce,  113,  it4>  232,  233. 
Gorky,  Maxim,  263,  268. 
Graham,  Cunninghame,  91. 
Greenbackers,  218. 
Grigorovitch,  259,  265,  268. 
Gucrrini,  32. 

Gupsde.  Jules,  48,  60,  61,  62,  64, 
66,  69,  71,  76,  78,  82,  87,  201,  238, 

309.  311- 
Guesdists,  66,  68,  72,  81,  83. 

Hamburg,  15. 

Hanover,  15. 

Hardie,  Keir,  100,  loi,  102,  105, 
106,  113,  114,  116,  117,  118,  207, 
229,  230. 

Hauptmann,  Gerhart,  263,  278. 

Havre,  64. 

Haywood,  Wm.  D.,  362. 

Hearst,  W.  R.,  218,  251. 

Heine,  261,  312. 

Herbert,  Auberon,  88. 

Herve,  Gustave,  80,  82,  86,  277,  323. 

History,  economic,  157. 

Hobson,  S.  G.,  114. 

Holland,  345. 

Home,  breaking  up  the,  195,  197. 

House  of  Commons,  110,  229. 

House  of  Representatives,  Ameri- 
can, 219. 

"Houses  of  the  People,"  135,  137, 
199.  295. 

Housing  conditions,  Germany,  27. 

Hugo,  Victor,  259. 

Hull  Congress,  127. 

Hungary,  335. 

Huysmans,  Camille,  138. 

Hyndman,  H.  M.,  88,  114. 

Ibsen,  Henrik,  278. 

Illegitimacy,  196. 

Illiteracy,  Italy,  37;    Belgium,  130; 

other  countries,  130. 
Income  tax,  184.     5fe  Program. 
Independent  Labor  Party,  100,  104, 

105,    106,    109,    no,    184,    192; 

policy,  218. 
Inglesias,  Pablo,  310,  349. 
Insurance,  6,  26,  28,  144,  189. 
IntegraHsm,  31,  49. 
Intellectuals,  32,  51,  56. 


International,  the,   58,   59,   67,   132, 

133,  261,  294. 
Interparliamentary    Congress,    253, 

254. 
Interpellation,  right  of,  213. 
Italy,  31,  61,  114,  126,  181,  187,  189, 

195.  197.  201.  212,  233,  235,  236. 

Japan,  311,  318,  353. 

Jaures,  Jean,  68,  69,  70,  73,  75,  76, 
79,  82,  83,  86,  97,  124,  155,  201, 
206,  215,  238,  243,  245,  311,  323. 

Jena,  8. 

Joffrin,  Jules,  65. 

Johnson,  Tom,  208. 

Judge-made  law,  212,  215,  216. 

"Justice,"  89,  117. 

Karlsruhe,  15. 

Katayama,  318,  353. 

Kautsky,  Karl,  8,  10,  12,  168,  200, 

241. 
Kiel,  185. 

Kielland,  Alexander,  263,  264,  276. 
King,  Bolton,  43. 
"Knights    of    Labor,"    American, 

360;    Belgian,  143. 
Kropotkin,  265,  274,  277. 

"Labour  Leader,"  232,  233. 
Labriola,  31,  32,  t,^,  46,  47,  49,  50, 

52,  53- 
Lafargue,  Paul,  63,  66,  79,  309. 
Lafontaine,  Senator,  138. 
Lagardelle,  52. 
Laissez  jaire,  26,  27,  185. 
Land,  public  ownership  of,  194. 
Lassalle,  Ferdinand,  23,  272,  305. 
Lassallians,  the,  168,  221,  309. 
Lecky,  295. 
Ledebour,  11. 
Lcgien,  8. 
Leipsic,  15. 
Leone,  52. 
Leroux,  Pierre,  314. 
Liberalism,  23,  28,  227,  298. 
Liberals,  German  National,  14,  16, 

20. 
Liebknecht,  Dr.  Karl,  9. 
Liebknecht,  Wilhelm,  6,  23,  24,  25, 

103.  123,  154,  15s,  195,  201,  207, 


372 


INDEX 


221,    224,    242,    255,    298,   304,   307, 

3".  315.  359- 
Liebknecht,  Mrs.  Wilhelm,  6. 
Lille,  socialists  of,  196. 
Limoges  Congress,  56. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  11. 
Lombard,  Jean,  63. 
Lombroso,  32,  263. 
London  County  Council,  100,  195, 

204. 
Love,  free,  125,  195,  231,  232. 
Luxemburg,  Rosa,  9. 
Lyons,  62. 

Macdonald,  J.  Ramsay,  114. 

Mackail,  91. 

Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  263. 

Maguire,  Tom,  104. 

Malon,  Benoit,  65. 

Mann,  Tom,  89,  92,  97,  loi. 

Mannheim  Congress,  3,  13. 

Marriage  service,  free,  196. 

Marseilles,  62. 

Marx,   Karl,   13,   59,   69,    123,   137, 

154,  iSS.  162,  164,  206,  224,  241, 

261,  262,  297,  300,  302,  305,  307, 

310,  312,  314,  315. 
Marxists,  58,  61,  62,  63,   168,   201, 

203,  206,  309. 
Maternal  schools,  197. 
Mazzini,  41,  88,  261,  272,  302,  309. 
Meredith,  George,  272. 
Meunier,  259,  266. 
Milan,  45. 

Militarism,  6,  184,  200,  323. 
Milk  supply,  198. 
MiUerand,  A.,  48,  68,  70,  72,  73,  75, 

76,  85,  203,  206,  250. 
Millet,  259,  266. 
Milwaukee  socialists,  208,  362. 
Mommsen,  Professor,  227. 
Morris,  William,  89,  90,  91,  96,  97, 

98,  124,  263,  283. 
Munich,  15,  194. 
Municipalization,    22,    26,    30,    178, 

190,  192,  194,  195,  204. 
Mutualities,  138,  144. 

Nationalization,    of     industry,     see 

Program;    of  land,  22. 
Negri,  Ada,  263,  269,  270. 


Nekrassoff,  259. 

Newspapers,   German,   5;    Belgian, 

149;    Italian,  38;  French,  81. 
New  York,  2,  43. 
New  Zealand,  355. 
Nieuwenhuis,  Domela,  310,  345. 
Nofri,  Quirino,  33. 
Norway,  197,  342. 
Nuremberg,  15. 

Okey,  Thomas,  43. 
Olivier,  Sydney,  89. 
Opportunists,  201. 
Owen,  Robert,  205,  298. 

Paepe,  C.  de,  123,  132,  133,  134, 
135,  137.  151.  2°7.  261,  310. 

Parliamentary  methods,  51,  53,  210, 
221,  222. 

Pascoli,  32,  263. 

Peasant  class  in  Italy,  34. 

Pease,  Edward  R.,  114. 

Pecqueur,  205,  314. 

Pellering,  Jean,  132. 

Picketing,  186,  228. 

Piedmont,  37. 

"  Pinkertons,"  186. 

Plechanofif,  318. 

Poland,  352. 

Poor  law,  188. 

Populists,  218. 

PossibiHsts,  68. 

Poverty,  in  Germany,  28;  Italy,  44; 
Belgium,  130. 

Powers,  Johnny,  179. 

President  of  United  States,  5,  211; 
of  France,  211. 

Program,  153;  Belgian,  172;  Ger- 
man, 169. 

Property,  private,  154,  231,  235, 
257- 

Proportional  representation,   184. 

Proudhon,  137,  298,  304,  309.  3io- 

Proudhonians,  58,  303. 

Public  utilities,  26,  51,  193. 

Quclch,  Harry,  117. 

Radziwill,  Princess,  226. 
Railroads,  26,  191. 


INDEX 


373 


Referendum,  183. 

Reform,  social,  178. 

Reformism  and  reformists,  31,   47, 

48,  49.  53.  201,  202,  203,  205,  207, 

209. 
Repos  hehdomadaire,  188. 
Republicans,  59,  60. 
Restaurants,  school,  197. 
Revisionism,  75. 
Revolution,  social,  153. 
Right  to  work,  25,  223,  228. 
Roberts,  Lord,  232. 
RockefeUer,  John  D.,  167. 
Ruskin,  John,  259. 
Russia,  8,  32,  310,  318,  327. 
Ryan,  Thomas  F.,  180. 

Saar,  19. 

St.  Simon,  205. 

Schools,  see  Program. 

Serao,  Matilde,  269. 

Servia,  351. 

Shawr,  Bernard,  89,  94,  98,  114,  204, 

263,  279. 
Singer,  Paul,  7. 
Slums,    in    Germany,    28,    30;     in 

England,  231. 
Social   Democratic   Federation,    88, 

90,  97,  98,  100,  113,  116,  118. 
Sorel,  52. 
South  Africa,  311. 
Spain,  310,  349- 
State  socialism,  25,  27,  51,  223. 
Statistics,  electoral,  253,  322. 
Steens,  Eugene,  132. 
Steinlen,  263. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  264. 
Strike,  general,  8,  13,  45.  81,  82,  141, 

334,  339.  341- 
Stuttgart,  15,  319. 
Sudermann,  Hermann,  277. 
Suffrage,    181,   183;    Germany,   37; 

Belgium,  141;   France,  37;   Italy, 

37- 
Suffrage,  Women's,  117,  118,  343. 
Sullivan,  Tim,  179. 
Sweden,  310,  340. 
Switzerland,    190,    199,    212,    310, 

347- 
Syndicalism  and  syndicalists,  31,  47, 

48,  49.   52,  53- 


Taff  Vale  decision,  107,  116. 

Tammany  Hall,  43. 

Taylor,  Helen,  89. 

Terrorist  tactics,  329. 

Third  party,  29,  105,  218. 

Tillett,  Ben,  94. 

Tirano,  55. 

Tolstoy,  Leo,  259,  271,  290. 

Trade  unions,  186;  Belgium,  142; 
Germany,  1 2  ;  Italy,  36 ;  France, 
66;  England,  92,  106,  107;  and 
socialism,  10,  81,  no,  127,  360. 

Trades  Disputes  Bill,  116,  186. 

Trafalgar  Square  Riot,  90. 

Troelstra,  318. 

Trusts,  27. 

Tschaykovsky,  254. 

Turati,  31,  32,  41,  46,  47,  48,  49, 
238. 

Turgueneff,  259,  265,  268,  272. 

Two-party  system,  29,  216. 

Unearned  increment,  184,  185. 

Unemployment,  144,  158,  160,  190, 
230. 

United  States,  52,  105.  See  Amer- 
ica. 

Vaillant,   Edouard,  59,  65,  69,  73, 

79.  83. 
Vanderbilts,  the,  167. 
Vandervelde,    Emile,    76,    79,    135, 

139,  141,  142,  215,  241,  252, 
Vereschagin,  277. 
Verga,  Giovanni,  263,  269. 
Verrycken,  Laurent,  132,  133. 
Vidal,  205,  314. 
Vienna,  204. 
Villari,  Professor,  237. 
Vinck,  Emil,  138. 
Viviani,  70,  85,  86,  206,  250. 
Volders,  Jean,  133,  151. 
Vooruit,  146. 
Votes,    socialist,    Germany,   19,   21; 

Italy,  37;   in  all  countries,  322. 

Wagner,  259,  281. 
Waldeck- Rousseau,  72. 
Wallace,  Alfred  Russel,  96,  at^. 
Wallas,  Graham,  89,  94. 
Ward.  Osborne,  i**;. 


374 


INDEX 


Webb,  Sidney,  89,  114,  204,  284. 
Wells,  H.  G.,  114,  263,  288. 
Whitman,  Walt,  259. 
Wiesbaden,  185. 
Williams,  Jack,  89,  90. 
Women's  Suffrage,  117,  118,  343. 
Working-class,    definition     of,     see 
Preface. 


Yerkes,  189. 

Zanardelli,  201. 
Zanarelli,  263. 
Zola,  Emile,  259,  375. 
Zurich,  42,  318. 
Zwickaw,  15. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

POVERTY 

AN  ATTEMPT  TO  DEFINE  IT  AND  TO  ES- 
TIMATE ITS  EXTENT  IN  THIS  COUNTRY 

By  ROBERT   HUNTER 

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"Despite  the  abundance  of  sociological  literature  in  this 
field,  really  good  books  dealing  with  poverty  are  conspicuously 
rare.  To  this  exceptional  class  belongs,  however,  a  volume 
on  '  Poverty,'  by  Mr.  Robert  Hunter,  formerly  head  of  the 
New  York  University  Settlement.  .  .  .  Mr.  Hunter's  book  is 
at  once  sympathetic  and  scientific.  He  brought  to  this  task  a 
store  of  practical  experience  in  settlement  and  relief  work 
gathered  in  many  parts  of  the  country.  His  analysis  of  the 
problem  is  marked  by  keen  insight  and  sound  judgment. 
There  is  no  sentimental  foolishness,  no  hysterical  extravagance 
in  this  book  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  the  smug  treatise 
of  a  cold-blooded  statistician.  It  is  the  work  of  a  man  who  has 
observed  the  evils  of  poverty  at  first  hand,  who  feels  strongly 
the  injustice  of  what  he  has  seen,  and  yet  who  thinks  straight 
—  a  man  with  a  heart  and  a  brain.  .  .  .  Whether  we  agree 
or  disagree  with  the  particular  measures  of  prevention  proposed 
by  Mr.  Hunter,  one  can  hardly  dispute,  on  general  principles, 
the  correctness  of  his  diagnosis  and  the  wisdom  of  his  advice." 
—  TAe  Social  Settler  in  The  Boston  Transcript. 


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AN  ACCOUNT  OF  SOCIALISM 

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and  the  clearness  of  his  logic  lay  solid  foundations  for  the 
spread  of  a  broadly  human,  enlightened  type  of  socialism. 
Very  simply,  yet  with  undeniably  strong  arguments  and  a  fas- 
cinating lucidity,  he  sets  forth  the  two  great  ideas  upon  which 
he  builds  his  faith.  You  cannot  agree  with  him  wholly,  per- 
haps ;  certainly  you  cannot  quarrel  with  his  frank  discussion ; 
and  it  is  equally  sure  that  you  will  read  on,  captivated  by  his 
evident  open-mindedness,  his  recognition  of  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  bettering  social  condition,  and  the  force  of  his 
enthusiasm  without  impatience. 

Socialism  is  much  in  the  air,  but  there  is  no  book  which 
states  so  clearly  and  so  interestingly  what  it  really  amounts  to. 

The  book  should  be  read  by  every  one  who  is  interested  in 
having  an  intelligent  standard,  at  once  sympathetic  and  un- 
prejudiced, by  which  to  measure  current  discussion. 


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present  situation  it  is  a  book  that  every  thoughtful  person  will  want  to 
read  and  read  carefully."  —  World  To-day. 

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The  power  and  sweep  of  the  story,  the  grip  of  the  drama  that  it  un- 
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the  author  will  move  even  the  most  casual  reader  to  thoughtfulness  ;  and 
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the  critics  call  it,  "so  charged  with  dynamic  influence  that  in  Russia  it 
would  be  immediately  powdered  out  of  existence." 


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A  History  of  Socialism 

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